Slow Magnetic Relaxation in Mono- and Bimetallic Lanthanide Tetraimido-Sulfate S(NtBu)42− Complexes

Abstract

Lanthanide ions are particularly well-suited for the design of single-molecule magnets owing to their large unquenched orbital angular momentum and strong spin-orbit coupling that gives rise to high magnetic anisotropy. Such nanoscopic bar magnets can potentially revolutionize high-density information storage and processing technologies, if blocking temperatures can be increased substantially. Exploring non-classical ligand scaffolds with the aim to boost the barriers to spin-relaxation are prerequisite. Here, the synthesis, crystallographic and magnetic characterization of a series of each isomorphous mono- and dinuclear lanthanide (Ln=Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er) complexes comprising tetraimido sulfate ligands are presented. The dinuclear Dy complex [{(thf)2Li(NtBu)2S(tBuN)2DyCl2}2 ⋅ ClLi(thf)2] (1c) shows true signatures of single-molecule magnet behavior in the absence of a dc field. In addition, the mononuclear Dy and Tb complexes [{(thf)2Li(NtBu)2S(tBuN)2LnCl2(thf)2] (2b,c) show slow magnetic relaxation under applied dc fields.