Tetranuclear copper(II) complex with the heterocyclic azomethine ligand: Crystal structure and magnetic properties

A tetranuclear copper(II) complex based on azomethine, which is the condensation product of 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-formylpyrazol-5-one with 1,3-diaminopropan-2-ol, is synthesized. The complex includes two different tetranuclear clusters: symmetrical and unsymmetrical. They have a pseudo-cubane structure and are in a ratio of 1 : 2. The quantum-chemical calculation shows that the “unsymmetrical” conformer does not correspond to the local minimum on the molecular potential energy surface. Its existence is thus determined by the crystalline packing effects. According to the results of measurements of the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility, the ground spin state is a singlet caused by the overall antiferromagnetic interaction between the copper ions. Accepting the molar magnetic susceptibility of the complex to be equal to the sum of susceptibilities of the “symmetrical” and “unsymmetrical” clusters and assuming that the spin-Hamiltonian for both clusters includes three exchange parameters, the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility of the complex is satisfactorily described with the following parameters of the model: J _1A = ?178, J _2A = 80, J _3A = 18, J _1B = ?26, J _2B = ?74, J _3B = 46 cm^?1, g _A = g _B = 2.05.