Formation of unusual molecular rectangles and squares containing low spin and high spin Co(II) and Fe(II) centers

The ditopic carbohydrazide and thiocarbohydrazide based ligands H?L1 and H?L2 react with Co(II)(OAc)? to produce the homoleptic Co(II) molecular rectangles 1 and 2, containing either a mixture of high spin and low spin Co(II) sites or exclusively low spin Co(II) centers, respectively, with two mono-deprotonated ligands in a syn-conformation, and the other two doubly-deprotonated ligands in an anti-arrangement. The Co(II) centers are bridged by μ-O/S and μ-N-N groups, respectively. Magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate weak antiferromagnetic coupling between metal centers in 1 and 2, with room temperature magnetic moments of 6.6 and 3.4 μ(B), respectively, in good agreement with two S = 3/2 and two S = 1/2 centers for 1 and four S = 1/2 centers for 2. Reaction of H?L1 and H?L2 with Fe(II)(CF?SO?)? in the presence of a base leads to the formation of μ-O/S bridged homoleptic molecular squares 3 and 4, with the Fe(II) centers in high spin and low spin configurations, respectively at room temperature, as indicated from X-ray structural data and magnetic susceptibility measurements. However, in 3 one Fe(II) site undergoes spin crossover to a low spin state at about 150 K, while 4 stays diamagnetic in the full 2-300 K temperature range. Electrochemistry of 4 showed four distinct reversible red-ox waves associated with step-by-step one electron processes in the molecular square [-0.643 (ΔE(p) = 81 mV), -0.278 (ΔE(p) = 70 mV), +0.565 (ΔE(p) = 65 mV), ~1.1 V], associated with the Fe(II)/Fe(III) red-ox couples.