Synthesis, structure, and magnetic behavior of bis(2-amino-5-fluoropyridinium) tetrachlorocuprate(II).

Reaction of CuCl2 with 2-amino-5-fluoropyridine and HCl in aqueous solution yields bis(2-amino-5-fluoropyridinium) tetrachlorocuprate(II), (5FAP)2CuCl4, (1). The complex crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/c with cell dimensions a = 6.926(7) A, b = 21.73(2) A, c = 10.911(10) A, beta = 100.19(2) degrees , V = 1616(3) A3, and R1 = 0.0424 based on 2640 independent reflections. The crystal packing shows that each tetrachlorocuprate ion has four nearest-neighbor Cu(II) ions through three types of Cu-Cl...Cl-Cu potential magnetic interactions: one short Cl...Cl distance (d1 = 3.657 A) and two longer Cl...Cl distances (d2 = 4.073 A) that form a layered distorted honeycomb structure. The third nearest neighbor (d3 = 4.239 A) links these layers into a three-dimensional structure. Both powder and single-crystal magnetic susceptibility measurements on 1, over the temperature range of 1.8-325 K, show significant antiferromagnetic interactions. Attempts to analyze the data using a variety of models showed a best fit to the strong-rung ladder model, with 2Jrung = -17.170(14) and 2Jrail = -5.94(5) K [-11.92(1) and -4.13(3) cm(-1), respectively] for the powder, although a comparable result is obtained using an alternate chain model. However, neither of these two models is compatible with a layered distorted honeycomb crystal packing structure. A first-principles bottom-up theoretical study using the 165 K crystallographic data reproduces the macroscopic properties and reveals that at low temperature the crystal has a 3D magnetic topology (all three magnetic pathways are significant) and a singlet ground state.