Cyanide-bridged [Fe8M6] clusters displaying single-molecule magnetism (M=Ni) and electron-transfer-coupled spin transitions (M=Co).

Cyanide-bridged metal complexes of [Fe(8)M(6)(μ-CN)(14)(CN)(10)(tp)(8)(HL)(10)(CH(3)CN)(2)][PF(6)](4)⋅n CH(3)CN⋅m H(2)O (HL=3-(2-pyridyl)-5-[4-(diphenylamino)phenyl]-1H-pyrazole), tp(-) =hydrotris(pyrazolylborate), 1: M=Ni with n=11 and m=7, and 2: M=Co with n=14 and m=5) were prepared. Complexes 1 and 2 are isomorphous, and crystallized in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/n. They have tetradecanuclear cores composed of eight low-spin (LS) Fe(III) and six high-spin (HS) M(II) ions (M=Ni and Co), all of which are bridged by cyanide ions, to form a crown-like core structure. Magnetic susceptibility measurements revealed that intramolecular ferro- and antiferromagnetic interactions are operative in 1 and in a fresh sample of 2, respectively. Ac magnetic susceptibility measurements of 1 showed frequency-dependent in- and out-of-phase signals, characteristic of single-molecule magnetism (SMM), while desolvated samples of 2 showed thermal- and photoinduced intramolecular electron-transfer-coupled spin transition (ETCST) between the [(LS-Fe(II))(3) (LS-Fe(III))(5)(HS-Co(II))(3)(LS-Co(III))(3)] and the [(LS-Fe(III))(8)(HS-Co(II))(6)] states.