Family of carboxylate- and nitrate-diphenoxo triply bridged dinuclear Ni(II)Ln(III) complexes (Ln = Eu, Gd, Tb, Ho, Er, Y): synthesis, experimental and theoretical magneto-structural studies, and single-molecule magnet behavior

Seven acetate-diphenoxo triply bridged M(II)-Ln(III) complexes (M(II) = Ni(II) and Ln(III) = Gd, Tb, Ho, Er, and Y; M(II) = Zn(II) and Ln(III) = Ho(III) and Er(III)) of formula M(μ-L)(μ-OAc)Ln(NO(3))(2)], one nitrate-diphenoxo triply bridged Ni(II)-Tb(III) complex, Ni(μ-L)(μ-NO(3))Tb(NO(3))(2)]·2CH(3)OH, and two diphenoxo doubly bridged Ni(II)-Ln(III) complexes (Ln(III) = Eu, Gd) of formula Ni(H(2)O)(μ-L)Ln(NO(3))(3)]·2CH(3)OH have been prepared in one pot reaction from the compartmental ligand N,N',N"-trimethyl-N,N"-bis(2-hydroxy-3-methoxy-5-methylbenzyl)diethylenetriamine (H(2)L). Moreover, Ni(II)-Ln(III) complexes bearing benzoate or 9-anthracenecarboxylate bridging groups of formula Ni(μ-L)(μ-BzO)Dy(NO(3))(2)] and Ni(μ-L)(μ-9-An)Dy(9-An)(NO(3))(2)]·3CH(3)CN have also been successfully synthesized. In acetate-diphenoxo triply bridged complexes, the acetate bridging group forces the structure to be folded with an average hinge angle in the M(μ-O(2))Ln bridging fragment of ~22°, whereas nitrate-diphenoxo doubly bridged complexes and diphenoxo-doubly bridged complexes exhibit more planar structures with hinge angles of ~13° and ~2°, respectively. All Ni(II)-Ln(III) complexes exhibit ferromagnetic interactions between Ni(II) and Ln(III) ions and, in the case of the Gd(III) complexes, the J(NiGd) coupling increases weakly but significantly with the planarity of the M-(O)(2)-Gd bridging fragment and with the increase of the Ni-O-Gd angle. Density functional theory (DFT) theoretical calculations on the Ni(II)Gd(III) complexes and model compounds support these magneto-structural correlations as well as the experimental J(NiGd) values, which were found to be ~1.38 and ~2.1 cm(-1) for the folded Ni(μ-L)(μ-OAc)Gd(NO(3))(2)] and planar Ni(H(2)O)(μ-L)Gd(NO(3))(3)]·2CH(3)OH complexes, respectively. The Ni(II)Dy(III) complexes exhibit slow relaxation of the magnetization with Δ/k(B) energy barriers under 1000 Oe applied magnetic fields of 9.2 and 10.1 K for Ni(μ-L)(μ-BzO)Dy(NO(3))(2)] and Ni(μ-L)(μ-9-An)Dy(9-An)(NO(3))(2)]·3CH(3)CN, respectively.