Confined Crystallization of Spin‐Crossover Nanoparticles in Block‐Copolymer Micelles

Nanoparticles of the spin‐crossover coordination polymer [FeL(bipy)]_n were synthesized by confined crystallization within the core of polystyrene‐block‐poly(4‐vinylpyridine) (PS‐b‐P4VP) diblock copolymer micelles. The 4VP units in the micellar core act as coordination sites for the Fe complex. In the bulk material, the spin‐crossover nanoparticles in the core are well isolated from each other allowing thermal treatment without disintegration of their structure. During annealing above the glass transition temperature of the PS block, the transition temperature is shifted gradually to higher temperatures from the as‐synthesized product (T_1/2↓=163 K and T_1/2↑=170 K) to the annealed product (T_1/2↓=203 K and T_1/2↑=217 K) along with an increase in hysteresis width from 6 K to 14 K. Thus, the spin‐crossover properties can be shifted towards the properties of the related bulk material. The stability of the nanocomposite allows further processing, such as electrospinning from solution.     

Stripe Order and Spin Dynamics in Nickelates

We report zero field μSR experiments on the lanthanum nickelate La_2−x Sr _x NiO_4+δ system with strontium doping level x between 0 and 0.6. In a single crystal with x=0.33 the internal field distribution shows two separated signals reflecting the antiferromagnetic domains and the non magnetic antiphase domain walls in the spin and charge ordered state below 190 K. Below 70 K a broadening of the low field line is observed. A similar behavior is observed in polycrystalline samples with 0.2≤x≤0.5. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Iron 10‐Thiacorroles: Bioinspired Iron(III) Complexes with an Intermediate Spin (S=3/2) Ground State

A first systematic study upon the preparation and exploration of a series of iron 10‐thiacorroles with simple halogenido (F, Cl, Br, I), pseudo‐halogenido (N₃, I₃) and solvent‐derived axial ligands (DMSO, pyridine) is reported. The compounds were prepared from the free‐base octaethyl‐10‐thiacorrole by iron insertion and subsequent ligand‐exchange reactions. The small N₄ cavity of the ring‐contracted porphyrinoid results in an intermediate spin (i.s., S=3/2) state as the ground state for the iron(III) ion. In most of the investigated cases, the i.s. state is found unperturbed and independent of temperature, as determined by a combination of X‐ray crystallography and magnetometry with ¹H NMR‐, EPR‐, and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Two exceptions were found. The fluorido iron(III) complex is inhomogenous in the solid and contains a thermal i.s. (S=3/2)→high spin (h.s., S=5/2) crossover fraction. On the other side, the cationic bis(pyridine) complex resides in the expected low spin (l.s., S=1/2) state. Chemically, the iron 10‐thiacorroles differ from the iron porphyrins mainly by weaker axial ligand binding and by a cathodic shift of the redox potentials. These features make the 10‐thiacorroles interesting ligands for future research on biomimetic catalysts and model systems for unusual heme protein active sites.     

Spin alignment and Mössbauer hyperfine fields in the reentrant spin glass (Fe0.65Ni0.35)1-xMnx

Hyperfine Interactions - We performed Mössbauer spectroscopy on the ternary alloy system (Fe0.65Ni0.35)1-xMnx in applied external magnetic fields. From the hyperfine field distributions the...     

Confined Crystallization of Spin-Crossover Nanoparticles in Block-Copolymer Micelles

Nanoparticles of the spin-crossover coordination polymer [FeL(bipy)]_n were synthesized by confined crystallization within the core of polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) diblock copolymer micelles. The 4VP units in the micellar core act as coordination sites for the Fe complex. In the bulk material, the spin-crossover nanoparticles in the core are well isolated from each other allowing thermal treatment without disintegration of their structure. During annealing above the glass transition temperature of the PS block, the transition temperature is shifted gradually to higher temperatures from the as-synthesized product (T_1/2↓=163 K and T_1/2↑=170 K) to the annealed product (T_1/2↓=203 K and T_1/2↑=217 K) along with an increase in hysteresis width from 6 K to 14 K. Thus, the spin-crossover properties can be shifted towards the properties of the related bulk material. The stability of the nanocomposite allows further processing, such as electrospinning from solution.     

Non-oxidative Methane Coupling over Silica versus Silica-Supported Iron(II) Single Sites

Non-oxidative CH₄ coupling is promoted by silica with incorporated iron sites, but the role of these sites and their speciation under reaction conditions are poorly understood. Here, silica-supported iron(II) single sites, prepared via surface organometallic chemistry and stable at 1020 °C in vacuum, are shown to rapidly initiate CH₄ coupling at 1000 °C, leading to 15–22 % hydrocarbons selectivity at 3–4 % conversion. During this process, iron reduces and forms carburized iron(0) nanoparticles. This reactivity contrasts with what is observed for (iron-free) partially dehydroxylated silica, that readily converts methane, albeit with low hydrocarbon selectivity and after an induction period. This study supports that iron sites facilitate faster initiation of radical reactions and tame the surface reactivity.     

Charge Carrier Dynamics in Zn-Doped Cuprates

We have measured the static magnetic susceptibility, the resistivity and muon spin relaxation (⁺SR) spectra of Zn and Sr doped La₂CuO₂. Our data show that non-magnetic Zn impurities lead to an increase of the Néel temperature T _N in weakly hole doped compounds. This increase of T _N correlates with an increase of the resistivity. The analysis of our data strongly suggests that the hole mobility is the most important source for the strong suppression of long range antiferromagnetic order in La_2–x Sr _x CuO₄.     

Spin Crossover and Valence Tautomerism in Neutral Homoleptic Iron Complexes of Bis(pyridylimino)isoindolines

Homoleptic iron complexes of six bis(pyridylimino)isoindoline (bpi) ligands with different substituents (H, Me, Et, tBu, OMe, NMe₂) at the 4‐positions of the pyridine moieties have been prepared and studied with regard to temperature‐dependent spin and redox states by a combination of ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, SQUID magnetometry, single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis, X‐band EPR, and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. While the H‐, methyl‐, and ethyl‐substituted complexes remain in a pure high‐spin state irrespective of the temperature, the 4‐tert‐butyl‐substituted derivative shows spin‐crossover behavior. The methoxy‐ and dimethylamino‐substituted compounds were found to easily undergo oxidation. In the crystalline state, valence tautomeric behavior was observed for the methoxy derivative as a thermally activated charge‐transfer transition, accompanied by a spin crossover above 200 K. The valence tautomerism leads to a chelate with one of the bpi ligands as a dianion radical L^2?. and with an effective spin of S=2.