Cationic Mn12 single-molecule magnets and their polyoxometalate hybrid salts

A carboxy-substituted alkylammonium salt, namely, (4-carboxybenzyl)tributylammonium hexafluorophosphate, ZHPF(6), was prepared and used as incoming carboxylate ligand in a ligand-exchange reaction with Mn(12)O(12)(O(2)CCH(3))(16)(H(2)O)(4)] (1) to afford a new Mn(12) single-molecule magnet (SMM), Mn(12)O(12)(Z)(16)(H(2)O)(4)]PF(6)](16) (2), bearing 16 cationic units appended in the periphery. This compound behaves as a single-molecule magnet, exhibiting an out-of-phase ac magnetic susceptibility chi' '(M) signal that shows a single maximum in the 3.1-5.4 K temperature range. The frequency dependence of the maximum follows an Arrhenius law, with an effective energy barrier for reorientation of the spins U(eff) = 53 K. The reduced magnetization versus H/T data at different temperatures were fitted by using a Hamiltonian containing Zeeman, axial, and quartic zero-field splitting terms. The expected spin ground state S = 10 was found, and the least-squares fit afforded the following zero-field-splitting parameters: D = -0.44 cm(-1); B(4)(0) = 0.12 x 10(-4) cm(-1). Magnetization hysteresis loops were observed for 2, with a coercive field H(c) = 0.34 T. Complex 2 has been used as countercation in the preparation of a family of hybrid salts containing different polyoxometalate anions, Mn(12)O(12)(Z)(16)(H(2)O)(4)]W(6)O(19)](8) (3), Mn(12)O(12)(Z)(16)(H(2)O)(4)]PW(12)O(40)](16/3) (4), Mn(12)O(12)(Z)(16)(H(2)O)(4)](H(3)O)PW(11)O(39)Ni](4) (5), and Mn(12)O(12)(Z)(16)(H(2)O)(4)](H(3)O)PW(11)O(39)Co](4) (6). 3-6 exhibit typical magnetic hysteresis loops with higher coercive fields for the complexes containing diamagnetic polyanions: H(c) = 0.075 T (3), 0.046 T (4), 0.016 T (5), and 0.0075 T (6). However, the dynamics of the magnetic behavior below the blocking temperature is similar in all compounds. Broad frequency-dependent out-of-phase ac susceptibility signals are observed, presumably due to mixtures of different Jahn-Teller isomers. Their temperature dependence is also typical of an activated-energy process, with effective energy barriers in the 50 K range, irrespective of the nature of the polyoxoanion (diamagnetic, as in 3 and 4, or paramagnetic, as in 5 and 6). These findings seem to discard any influence of the polyoxometalate in the magnetic properties of the SMM.