Cooperative Spin Crossover above Room Temperature in the Iron(II) Cyanoborohydride-Pyrazine Complex.

Hysteretic spin crossover in coordination complexes of 3d-metal ions represents one of the most spectacular phenomena of molecular bistability. In this paper we describe a self-assembly of pyrazine (pz) and Fe(BH3CN)2 that afforded the new 2D coordination polymer [Fe(pz)2(BH3CN)2]∞. It undergoes an abrupt, hysteretic spin crossover (SCO) with a T1/2 of 338 K (heating) and 326 K (cooling) according to magnetic susceptibility measurements. Mössbauer spectroscopy revealed a complete transition between the low-spin (LS) and the high-spin (HS) states of the iron centers. This LS-to-HS transition induced an increase of the unit cell volume by 10.6%. Meanwhile, a modulation of multiple [C-Hδ+···Hδ--B] dihydrogen bonds stimulates a contraction in direction c (2.2%). The simplicity of the synthesis, mild temperatures of transition, a pronounced thermochromism, stability upon thermal cycling, a striking volume expansion upon SCO, and an easy processability to composite films make this new complex an attractive material for switchable components of diverse applications.

Thermochromic Meltable Materials with Reverse Spin Transition Controlled by Chemical Design.

We report a series of meltable FeII complexes, which, depending on the length of aliphatic chains, display abrupt forward low-spin to high-spin transition or unprecedented melting-triggered reverse high-spin to low-spin transition on temperature rise. The reverse spin transition is perfectly reproducible on thermal cycling and the obtained materials are easily processable in the form of thin film owing to their soft-matter nature. We found that the discovered approach represents a potentially generalizable new avenue to control both the location in temperature and the direction of the spin transition in meltable compounds.

Synthesis and crystal structure of N1,N2-di-methyl-ethane-dihydrazide.

The title compound, N 1,N 2-di-methyl-ethane-dihydrazide, C4H10N4O2, was obtained by the methyl-ation of oxalyl dihydrazide protected with phthalimide. The mol-ecule is essentially non-planar with a dihedral angle between the two planar hydrazide fragments of 86.5 (2)°. This geometry contributes to the formation of a multi-contact three-dimensional supra-molecular network via C-H⋯O, N-H⋯O and N-H⋯N hydrogen bonds.

Synthesis and crystal structure of hydrated µ-oxa-lato-bis-{bis-[3-methyl-5-(pyridin-2-yl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole]iron(II)} bis-(toluene-sulfonate) 2.75-hydrate.

In the title compound [Fe2(C2O4)(C8H8N4)4](CH3C6H4SO3)2·2.75H2O, the two FeII ions have a highly distorted octa-hedral FeN4O2 environment formed by two bidentate triazole-based chelating ligands and a bis-bidentate oxalate bridging anion that connects the metal ions. Stabilization within the crystal structure is provided via a system of O-H⋯O and N-H⋯O hydrogen bonding, which determines the formation of a two-dimensional architecture along the a-axis direction.