Heterospin mixed-ligand heterotrinuclear CoII, GdIII, CoII complex with nitronyl nitroxide

A method was developed for the synthesis of mixed-metal heterospin compounds with the direct coordination of the nitroxide fragment based on the replacement of acetonitrile molecules in the heterotrinuclear complex [Co₂Gd(NO₃)Piv₆(CH₃CN)₂] with nitroxide molecules. The molecular and crystal structure of the heterospin mixed-ligand heterotrinuclear Co^II, Gd^III, Co^II complex [Co₂Gd(NO₃)Piv₆(NIT-Me)₂], where NIT-Me is stable nitronyl nitroxide, was established. The magnetic properties of this complex were investigated in the temperature range of 2–300 K. The coordination of nitroxide groups to Co^II ions is responsible for strong exchange interactions between the unpaired electrons in the exchange clusters {>-·O-Co^II}, resulting in the virtually complete spin coupling between each coordinated >N-·O group and one of the unpaired electrons of each Co^II ion at temperatures below 200 K. Dedicated to Academician G. A. Abakumov on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 9, pp. 1742–1745, September, 2007.