Structure and bonding patterns in heterometallic organometallics with linear Ln-Pd-Ln motifs.

Complexes with short intermetallic distances between transition metal fragments and lanthanide (Ln) fragments are fascinating objects of study, owing to the ambiguity of the nature of the interaction. The addition of the divalent lanthanide fragments Cp*2Ln(OEt2) (Ln = Sm or Yb) to a Pd(ii) complex bearing the deprotonated form of the redox-active, non-symmetrical ligand, 2-pyrimidin-2-yl-1H-benzimidazole (Hbimpm), leads to two isostructural complexes, of the general formula (Cp*2Ln)2[µ-Pd(pyridyl)2] (Ln = Sm (4) and Yb (5)). These adducts have interesting features, such as unique linear Ln-Pd-Ln arrangements and short Ln-Pd distances, which deviate from the expected lanthanide contraction. A mixed computational and spectroscopic study into the formation of these adducts gathers important clues as to their formation. At the same time, thorough characterization of these complexes establishes the +3 oxidation state of all the involved Ln centers. Detailed theoretical computations demonstrate that the apparent deviation from lanthanide contraction is not due to any difference in the intermetallic interaction between the Pd and the Ln, but that the fragments are joined together by electrostatic interactions and dispersive forces. This conclusion contrasts with the findings about a third complex, Cp*2Yb(µ-Me)2PdCp* (6), formed during the reaction, which also possesses a short Yb-Pd distance. Studies at the CASSCF level of theory on this complex show several orbitals containing significant interactions between the 4f and 4d manifolds of the metals. This demonstrates the need for methodical and careful analyses in gauging the intermetallic interaction and the inadequacy of empirical metrics in describing such phenomena.

Redox activity of a dissymmetric ligand bridging divalent ytter-bium and reactive nickel fragments.

The reaction of a reactive nickel dimethyl 1 bearing a redox-active, dissymmetric ligand, which is obtained by deprotonation of 2-pyrimidin-2-yl-1H-benzimidazole (Hbimpm) with a divalent lanthanide complex, Cp*2Yb(OEt2), affords an unprecedented, trimeric 2 with C(sp3)-C(sp3) bond formation between two ligands in an exo position. Meanwhile, the transient, dimeric species 3 can be isolated with the same ligand coupling fashion, however, with a drastic distorsion angle of the bimpm ligand and reactive NiMe2 fragment, revealing the possible mechanism of this rearrangement. A much more stable dimeric congener, 5, with an exo ligand coupling, is synthesized in the presence of 18-crown-6, which captures the potassium counter ion. The C-C coupling formation between two bimpm ligands results from the effective electron transfer from divalent lanthanide fragments. Without the divalent lanthanide, the reductive coupling occurs on a different carbon of the ligand, nicely showing the modulation of the spin density induced by the presence of the lanthanide ion. The electronic structures of these complexes are investigated by magnetic study (SQUID), indicating a 2F7/2 ground state for each ytterbium in all the heterometallics. This work firstly reports ligand coupling reactivity in a redox-active, yet dissymmetric system with divalent organolanthanides, and the reactive nickel moiety can impact the intriguing transition towards a stable homoleptic, trinulear lanthanide species.

Magnetization Blocking in Fe2 III Dy2 III Molecular Magnets: Ab Initio Calculations and EPR Spectroscopy.

The magnetism and magnetization blocking of a series of [Fe2 Dy2 (OH)2 (teaH)2 (RC6 H4 COO)6 ] complexes was investigated, in which teaH3 =triethanolamine and R=meta-CN (1), para-CN (2), meta-CH3  (3), para-NO2  (4) and para-CH3  (5), by combining ab initio calculations and EPR measurements. The results of broken-symmetry DFT calculations show that in all compounds the Fe-Fe exchange interaction is antiferromagnetic and stronger by far than the Fe-Dy and Dy-Dy interactions. As a result, the lowest two exchange doublets probed by EPR spectroscopy mostly originate from the Ising interaction of the dysprosium ions in all compounds. A correct quantitative description of the splitting of these two doublets requires, however, an explicit account of the Fe-Dy and Fe-Fe interactions. Due to the inversion symmetry of the complexes, the doublets under consideration are described by a collinear Ising exchange interaction. This picture is also supported by the EPR spectra, which could be simulated with parameters close to those extracted from the calculations. The magneto-structural analysis shows an increase of the antiferromagnetic Fe-Fe exchange interaction with increasing Fe-O-Fe angle and Fe-Fe distance. For the Dy-Fe interaction, the opposite tendency is observed, that is, a decrease of antiferromagnetic exchange coupling with increasing Dy-O-Fe angle and Dy-Fe distance. The transversal g factors extracted from the ab initio calculations have values in the range of 0.01-0.2, testifying to the lack of high axiality of the ground state of the dysprosium ions. This explains the lack/poor single-molecule magnetic behavior of this series of compounds at the investigated temperatures of a few Kelvin. Due to a very small gap (fractions of a wavenumber) between the ground and first-excited exchange doublet, relaxation takes place by magnetic moment reversal at individual dysprosium sites in the considered temperature domain.