Temperature-dependent in situ ligand cyclization via C═C coupling and formation of a spin-crossover iron(II) coordination polymer.

ABSTRACT

The reaction of N(1),N(2)-bis(pyridin-4-ylmethylene)ethane-1,2-diamine (L) with Fe(NCS)(2) under various temperatures gave rise to three iron(II) coordination polymers, namely, one-dimensional [Fe(L')(NCS)(2)] (1), two-dimensional [Fe(L)(2)(NCS)(2)]·H(2)O (2), and one-dimensional [Fe(L)(2)(NCS)(2)]·2CH(2)Cl(2)·4MeOH (3). The formation of 1 involved an in situ C═C coupling reaction, L to L' [L' = 5,6-di(pyridin-4-yl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrazine], which was catalyzed by cyanide ions decomposed from thiocyanates; the manganese(II) (1a) and zinc(II) (1b) analogues of 1 were also synthesized for comparison. Magnetic studies showed that complex 1 underwent a pressure-dependent one-step incomplete spin transition whereas complexes 2 and 3 were paramagnetic in the whole temperature range.