MR imaging for the quantitative assessment of brain iron in aceruloplasminemia: A postmortem validation study.

AIMS: Non-invasive measures of brain iron content would be of great benefit in neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA) to serve as a biomarker for disease progression and evaluation of iron chelation therapy. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides several quantitative measures of brain iron content, none of these have been validated for patients with a severely increased cerebral iron burden. We aimed to validate R2* as a quantitative measure of brain iron content in aceruloplasminemia, the most severely iron-loaded NBIA phenotype. METHODS: Tissue samples from 50 gray- and white matter regions of a postmortem aceruloplasminemia brain and control subject were scanned at 1.5 T to obtain R2*, and biochemically analyzed with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. For gray matter samples of the aceruloplasminemia brain, sample R2* values were compared with postmortem in situ MRI data that had been obtained from the same subject at 3 T - in situ R2*. Relationships between R2* and tissue iron concentration were determined by linear regression analyses. RESULTS: Median iron concentrations throughout the whole aceruloplasminemia brain were 10 to 15 times higher than in the control subject, and R2* was linearly associated with iron concentration. For gray matter samples of the aceruloplasminemia subject with an iron concentration up to 1000 mg/kg, 91% of variation in R2* could be explained by iron, and in situ R2* at 3 T and sample R2* at 1.5 T were highly correlated. For white matter regions of the aceruloplasminemia brain, 85% of variation in R2* could be explained by iron. CONCLUSIONS: R2* is highly sensitive to variations in iron concentration in the severely iron-loaded brain, and might be used as a non-invasive measure of brain iron content in aceruloplasminemia and potentially other NBIA disorders.

Stabilization of the Low-Spin State in a Mononuclear Iron(II) Complex and High-Temperature Cooperative Spin Crossover Mediated by Hydrogen Bonding.

The tetrapyridyl ligand bbpya (bbpya=N,N-bis(2,2'-bipyrid-6-yl)amine) and its mononuclear coordination compound [Fe(bbpya)(NCS)2 ] (1) were prepared. According to magnetic susceptibility, differential scanning calorimetry fitted to Sorai's domain model, and powder X-ray diffraction measurements, 1 is low-spin at room temperature, and it exhibits spin crossover (SCO) at an exceptionally high transition temperature of T1/2 =418 K. Although the SCO of compound 1 spans a temperature range of more than 150 K, it is characterized by a wide (21 K) and dissymmetric hysteresis cycle, which suggests cooperativity. The crystal structure of the LS phase of compound 1 shows strong NH⋅⋅⋅S intermolecular H-bonding interactions that explain, at least in part, the cooperative SCO behavior observed for complex 1. DFT and CASPT2 calculations under vacuum demonstrate that the bbpya ligand generates a stronger ligand field around the iron(II) core than its analogue bapbpy (N,N'-di(pyrid-2-yl)-2,2'-bipyridine-6,6'-diamine); this stabilizes the LS state and destabilizes the HS state in 1 compared with [Fe(bapbpy)(NCS)2 ] (2). Periodic DFT calculations suggest that crystal-packing effects are significant for compound 2, in which they destabilize the HS state by about 1500 cm(-1) . The much lower transition temperature found for the SCO of 2 compared to 1 appears to be due to the combined effects of the different ligand field strengths and crystal packing.

Influence of selenocyanate ligands on the transition temperature and cooperativity of bapbpy-based Fe(II) spin-crossover compounds.

Coordination of the ligand bapbpy (1, bapbpy = N,N'-di(pyrid-2-yl)-2,2'-bipyridine-6,6'-diamine), of one of its four dimethyl-substituted analogues 2-5 (R2bapbpy = N,N'-di(methylpyrid-2-yl)-2,2'-bipyridine-6,6'-diamine), or of one of its three bis(iso)quinoline analogues 6-8 (R2bapbpy= N,N'-di(quinolyl)-2,2'-bipyridine-6,6'-diamine), to Fe(NCSe)2, afforded eight new iron(II) compounds of the type [Fe(R2bapbpy)(NCSe)2] (9-16). Three of these compounds (11, 13, and 16) were structurally characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, which showed similar molecular geometry and packing compared to their thiocyanate analogues. Magnetic susceptibility measurements were carried out for all iron compounds and revealed thermal spin-crossover (SCO) behavior for compounds 9, 11, 13, 15, and 16. Compounds 11, 13, 15, and 16 show an increased transition temperature compared to the thiocyanate analogues. [Fe(bapbpy)(NCSe)2] (9) shows a gradual, one-step SCO, whereas its thiocyanate analogue [Fe(bapbpy)(NCS)2] is known for its cooperative two-step SCO. To discuss the influence of S-to-Se substitution on the cooperativity of the SCO, heat capacity measurements were carried out for compounds 9, 11, 13, 15, and 16, and fitted to the Sorai domain model. The number n of like-spin SCO centers per interacting domain, which is a quantitative measure of the cooperativity of the spin transition, was found to be high for compounds 11 and 15, and low for compounds 9, 11, and 13. Compound 15 is one of the few known SCO compounds that is more cooperative than its thiocyanate analogue. Altogether, X-ray diffraction, calorimetry, and magnetic data give a consistent structure-property relationship for this family of compounds: hydrogen-bonding networks made of intermolecular N-H···Se interactions are of paramount importance for the cooperativity of the SCO.

Triggering a phase transition by a spatially localized laser pulse: role of strain.

We report here the optical microscopic imaging of a first-order phase transition induced by a nanosecond laser pulse (532 nm) in a single crystal of the molecular spin-crossover complex [Fe(bapbpy)(NCS)(2)]. The transition starts with the formation of a high spin domain in the region irradiated by the focused laser beam, followed by the subsequent growth or contraction of the initial domain. Remarkably, in otherwise identical experimental conditions one can observe either the irreversible transition of the whole crystal or merely the formation of a transient domain-depending on which region of the crystal is excited. This observation as well as the rather slow dynamics suggest that the main control parameter is the inhomogeneous accommodation strain, which destabilizes the photoinduced domain.

Tuning the transition temperature and cooperativity of bapbpy-based mononuclear spin-crossover compounds: interplay between molecular and crystal engineering.

In this study, we show that 1) different isomers of the same mononuclear iron(II) complex give materials with different spin-crossover (hereafter SCO) properties, and 2) minor modifications of the bapbpy (bapbpy=N6,N6'-di(pyridin-2-yl)-2,2'-bipyridine-6,6'-diamine) ligand allows SCO to be obtained near room temperature. We also provide a qualitative model to understand the link between the structure of bapbpy-based ligands and the SCO properties of their iron(II) compounds. Thus, seven new trans-[Fe{R(2)(bapbpy)}(NCS)(2)] compounds were prepared, in which the R(2)bapbpy ligand bears picoline (9-12), quin-2-oline (13), isoquin-3-oline (14), or isoquin-1-oline (15) substituents. From this series, three compounds (12, 14, and 15) have SCO properties, one of which (15) occurs at 288 K. The crystal structures of compounds 11, 12, and 15 show that the intermolecular interactions in these materials are similar to those found in the parent compound [Fe(bapbpy)(NCS)(2)] (1), in which each iron complex interacts with its neighbors through weak N-H···S hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking. For compounds 12 and 15, hindering groups located near the N-H bridges weaken the N-S intermolecular interactions, which is correlated to non-cooperative SCO. For compound 14, the substitution is further away from the N-H bridges, and the SCO remains cooperative as in 1 with a hysteresis cycle. Optical microscopy photographs show the strikingly different spatio-temporal evolution of the phase transition in the noncooperative SCO compound 12 relative to that found in 1. Heat-capacity measurements were made for compounds 1, 12, 14, and 15 and fitted to the Sorai domain model. The number n of like-spin SCO centers per interacting domain, which is related to the cooperativity of the spin transition, was found high for compounds 1 and 14 and low for compounds 12 and 15. Finally, we found that although both pairs of compounds 11/12 and 14/15 are pairs of isomers their SCO properties are surprisingly different.

Laser-induced artificial defects (LIADs): towards the control of the spatiotemporal dynamics in spin transition materials.

Micrometer-sized defects, induced by laser ablation, radically change the spatiotemporal dynamics of a first-order structural phase transition, in this case of a spin crossover material. This type of "domain engineering" is thus based on artificial defects, such as that in the image, which can serve either as nucleation sites or as pinning sites. The subsequent growth of the nucleated domains can also be guided to some extent.