Slow Magnetic Relaxation in an Asymmetrically Coupled Heptanuclear Dysprosium(III)-Nickel(II) Architecture

Abstract

A new dysprosium(III)–nickel(II) heterometallic cluster, namely, [Dy III3Ni II4(L)6(OH)4(CH3OH)3(CH3CN)(NO3)(OH2)]·(CH3CN)3(CH3OH)2 (H2O)2 (1), has been synthesized from the schiff-base ligand H2L (L = o-phenolsalicylimine), dysprosium nitrate and nickel nitrate. A single-crystal X-ray diffraction study reveals that the highly asymmetric core of 1 consists of an unprecedented edge-sharing arrangement of three dissimilar Dy2Ni triangles, along with one Dy2Ni2 rectangle, connected to one side of the central metallic core. Both static (dc) and dynamic (ac) magnetic properties of 1 have been studied. The results reveal that compound 1 exhibits slow relaxation of the magnetization, making 1 a remarkable new addition to the family of Ln–Ni single molecule magnets, having a new asymmetric Ni4Dy3-architecture.