Rare-earth ferricyanides and chromicyanides LnT(CN)6·nH2O

Single crystals of the rare-earth ferricyanides and chromicyanides have been grown by a double-infusion technique. These compounds are characterized structurally and magnetically. The complexes with nonmagnetic rare-earth ions are presumably all antiferromagnetic at low temperatures; those with magnetic rare-earth ions are antiferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic. In the first group, magnetic ordering is due to superexchange via five nonmagnetic ions and LuCr(CN)₆·4H₂O has the highest ordering temperature ever found for such a long interaction path.