Tandem templating strategies facilitate the assembly of calix[8]arene-supported Ln18 clusters.

Calix[n]arenes offer ideal chemical functionality through the polyphenolic lower rim to construct nano-sized coordination clusters with lanthanide (Ln) metal ions (e.g., NdIII10, GdIII8). However, the number of metal centers they can accommodate is still limited compared to that achievable with smaller ligands (e.g., GdIII140, GdIII104). Here, we exploit a combination of the "anion template strategy" and "templating ligands" to synthesise three highly symmetric (D3h, trigonal planar) LnIII18 (Ln = La, Nd, and Gd) systems, representing the largest calix[n]arene-based coordination clusters yet. The LnIII18 fragment is templated by a chloride anion located at the center of the cluster, wherefrom twelve µ3-OH- ligands bind 'internally' to the eighteen LnIII ions. 'Externally' the metallic skeleton is connected by p-tert-butylcalix[8]arene, oxo, chloro and carbonate ligands. The crystal packing in the lattice reveals large cylindrical channels of ∼26 Å in diameter, whose pore volume corresponds to ∼50% of the unit cell volume (using a 1.2 Å spherical probe radius). Magnetic measurements reveal the predominance of weak antiferromagnetic exchange in the Gd analog. Heat capacity data of GdIII18 reveal a high magnetic entropy with -ΔSm = 23.7 J K-1 kg-1, indicating potential for engineering magnetic refrigerant materials with calix[8]arenes.

Synthesis and Characterization of Iron Bispyridine Bisdicyanamide, Fe[C5H5N]2[N(CN)2]2.

Fe[C5H5N]2[N(CN)2]2 (1) was synthesized from a reaction of stoichiometric amounts of NaN(CN)2 and FeCl2·4H2O in a methanol/pyridine solution. Single-crystal and powder diffraction show that 1 crystallizes in the monoclinic space group I2/m (no. 12), different from Mn[C5H5N]2[N(CN)2]2 (P21/c, no. 14) due to tilted pyridine rings, with a = 7.453(7) Å, b = 13.167(13) Å, c = 8.522(6) Å, ß = 114.98(6)° and Z = 2. ATR-IR, AAS, and CHN measurements confirm the presence of dicyanamide and pyridine. Thermogravimetric analysis shows that π-stacking interactions of the pyridine rings play an important role in structural stabilization. Based on DFT-optimized structures, a chemical bonding analysis was performed using a local-orbital framework by projection from a plane-wave basis. The resulting bond orders and atomic charges are in good agreement with the expectations based on the structure analysis. SQUID magnetic susceptibility measurements show a high-spin state FeII compound with predominantly antiferromagnetic exchange interactions at lower temperatures.

FeII/III and MnII complexes based on 2,4,6-tris(2-pyridyl)-triazine: synthesis, structures, magnetic and biological properties.

Reaction of the polypyridyl ligand 2,4,6-tris(2-pyridyl)-s-triazine (tpt) with mono- and polynuclear Fe(iii) or Mn(ii) precursors, specifically tri- or hexanuclear Fe(iii) pivalates (piv-), [Mn6O2(piv)10(Hpiv)4] and Mn(ii) isobutyrate (ib-), in various solvents and under various reaction conditions showcase the ligand's surprising coordination characteristics. The reactions result in mononuclear [FeIII(tpt)(tptH)][FeIIICl4]4·2(thf)·0.23(H2O) (1), [FeIII(piv)(tpt)Cl2] (2), [FeII(tpt)Cl2]·2(H2O) (3a), dinuclear [FeIII 2O(tpt)2Cl4] (3), and heptanuclear [FeIII 7O4(piv)12(tpt-O)]·A [A = MeCN (4a) or 4(dioxane) (4b)] and [FeIII 7O4(piv)11(tpt-O)(i-PrO)(i-PrOH)]·0.75(i-PrOH) (5), as well as the mononuclear compounds [MnII(tpt)(NO3)(H2O)2](NO3) (6) and [MnII(tpt)(ib)(Cl)(MeOH)]·MeOH (7). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses identify tpt as a tridentate NNN donor ligand that forms two five-membered metallocycles in 1-3, 6 and 7, whereas in 4 and 5 five tpt N atoms form coordinative bonds accompanied by an unusual metal-induced oxidation of one of the carbon atoms of the central triazine core. Magnetic properties of Fe(iii)-tpt (2-5), Fe(ii)-tpt (3a), and Mn(ii)-tpt (7) compounds show dominant antiferromagnetic coupling for polynuclear coordination cluster compounds. The Mn(ii)-tpt complexes 6 and 7 exhibit efficient catalytic properties in the production of enzymes by microorganisms, which concerns the synthesis of exocellular proteases in Fusarium gibbosum CNMN FD 12 or Trichoderma koningii Oudemans CNMN FD 15 fungi strains. Thus, compounds 6 and 7 can be used for producing proteolytic enzymes with wide applications including in the food, detergents and pharmaceutical industries.

Size-isolation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles improves MRI, MPI and hyperthermia performance.

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) are extensively used for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic particle imaging (MPI), as well as for magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH). We here describe a sequential centrifugation protocol to obtain SPION with well-defined sizes from a polydisperse SPION starting formulation, synthesized using the routinely employed co-precipitation technique. Transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering and nanoparticle tracking analyses show that the SPION fractions obtained upon size-isolation are well-defined and almost monodisperse. MRI, MPI and MFH analyses demonstrate improved imaging and hyperthermia performance for size-isolated SPION as compared to the polydisperse starting mixture, as well as to commercial and clinically used iron oxide nanoparticle formulations, such as Resovist® and Sinerem®. The size-isolation protocol presented here may help to identify SPION with optimal properties for diagnostic, therapeutic and theranostic applications.

Syntheses and Characterization of Diammine-Nickel/Cobalt(II)-Bisdicyanamide M(NH3)2[N(CN)2]2 with M = Ni and Co.

Crystals of M(NH3)2[N(CN)2]2 with M = Ni and Co were obtained from the reaction of stoichiometric amounts of Na[N(CN)2] with NiCl2·6H2O or CoCl2·6H2O in aqueous, ammoniacal solutions. X-ray single-crystal structure analyses show that M(NH3)2[N(CN)2]2 with M = Ni and Co crystallize isotypically to each other and adopt the monoclinic space group P21/ c (no. 14). The lattice parameters of Ni(NH3)2[N(CN)2]2 are a = 5.8498(9) Å, b = 10.6739(12) Å, and c = 6.8089(17) Å, ß = 98.037(3)° and Z = 2, while those of Co(NH3)2[N(CN)2]2 are a = 5.8303(11) Å, b = 10.746(2) Å, c = 6.7773(13) Å, and ß = 96.422(3)°. In addition, the crystal structure of the nickel compound was refined from neutron powder diffraction, augmented by DFT calculations as regards atomic displacement parameters. The IR spectra of the title compounds exhibit modes typical for the dicyanamide anion and ammonia. The UV/vis spectrum of Ni(NH3)2[N(CN)2]2 shows that the dicyanamide moiety is a medium-field ligand. Additional superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetic susceptibility measurements of Ni(NH3)2[N(CN)2]2 and Co(NH3)2[N(CN)2]2 confirm not only significant high-spin moments of χm T = 1.24 cm3·K·mol-1 (µeff = 3.15 µB) and 2.89 cm3·K·mol-1 (µeff = 4.81 µB), respectively, at 290 K and 0.1 T but also an absence of magnetic ordering.

Iron(III) carboxylate/aminoalcohol coordination clusters with propeller-shaped Fe8 cores: approaching reasonable exchange energies.

A series of new octanuclear propeller-like aminoalcohol-supported Fe(III) oxocarboxylate coordination clusters, [Fe8O3(O2CCHMe2)9(tea)(teaH)3]·MeCN·2(H2O) (1), [Fe8O3(O2CCHMe2)6(N3)3(tea)(teaH)3] (2), [Fe8O3(O2CCMe3)6(N3)3(tea)(teaH)3]·0.5(EtOH) (3), and [Fe8O3(O2CCHMe2)6(N3)3(mdea)3(MeO)3] (4) (where teaH3 = triethanolamine; mdeaH2 = N-methyldiethanolamine) has been isolated and magnetochemically analyzed combining the programs wxJFinder and CONDON in an approach to avoid overparameterization issues that are common to larger spin polytopes. Dominant antiferromagnetic exchange interactions exist in all clusters along the edges of the propellers, while moderate ferromagnetic interactions are found along the propeller axes in their {Fe8O3} metallic cores.

Avoiding magnetochemical overparametrization, exemplified by one-dimensional chains of hexanuclear iron(III) pivalate clusters.

One-dimensional chain coordination polymers based on hexanuclear iron(III) pivalate building blocks and 1,4-dioxane (diox) or 4,4'-bipyridine (4,4'-bpy) bridging ligands, [Fe6O2(O2CH2)(O2CCMe3)12(diox)]n (1) and [Fe6O2(O2CH2)(O2CCMe3)12(4,4'-bpy)]n (2), showcase the utility of the angular overlap model, implemented in the program wxJFinder, in the predictive identification of the relative role of intra- and intercluster coupling.