Controlling inversion disorder in a stoichiometric spinel magnet.

In the study of frustrated quantum magnets, it is essential to be able to control the nature and degree of site disorder during the growth process, as many measurement techniques are incapable of distinguishing between site disorder and frustration-induced spin disorder. Pyrochlore-structured spinel oxides can serve as model systems of geometrically frustrated three-dimensional quantum magnets; however, the nature of the magnetism in one well-studied spinel, ZnFe2O4, remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate simultaneous control of both stoichiometry and inversion disorder in the growth of ZnFe2O4 single crystals, directly yielding a revised understanding of both the collective spin behavior and lattice symmetry. Crystals grown in the stoichiometric limit with minimal site inversion disorder contravene all the previously suggested exotic spin phases in ZnFe2O4. Furthermore, the structure is confirmed on the [Formula: see text] space group with broken inversion symmetry that induces antiferroelectricity. The effective tuning of magnetic behavior by site disorder in the presence of robust antiferroelectricity makes ZnFe2O4 of special interest to multiferroic devices.

Composition Determination of Heterometallic Trinuclear Clusters via Anomalous X-ray and Neutron Diffraction.

Anomalous X-ray diffraction (AXD) and neutron diffraction can be used to crystallographically distinguish between metals of similar electron density. Despite the use of AXD for structural characterization in mixed metal clusters, there are no benchmark studies evaluating the accuracy of AXD toward assessing elemental occupancy in molecules with comparisons with what is determined via neutron diffraction. We collected resonant diffraction data on several homo and heterometallic clusters and refined their anomalous scattering components to determine metal site occupancies. Theoretical resonant scattering terms for Fe0, Co0, and Zn0 were compared against experimental values, revealing theoretical values are ill-suited to serve as references for occupancy determination. The cluster featuring distinct cation and anion metal compositions [CoCp2*][(tbsL)Fe3(µ3-NAr)] was used to assess the accuracy of different f' references for occupancy determination (f'theoretical ± 15-17%; f'experimental ± 10%). This methodology was applied toward calculating the occupancy of three different clusters: (tbsL)Fe2Zn(py) (6), (tbsL)Fe2Zn(µ3-NAr)(py) (7), and [CoCp*2][(tbsL)Fe2Zn(µ3-NAr)] (8). The first two clusters maintain 100% Fe/Zn site isolation, whereas 8 showed metal mixing within the sites. The large crystal size of 8 enabled collection of neutron diffraction data which was compared against the results found with AXD. The ability of AXD to replicate the metal occupancies as determined by neutron diffraction supports the AXD occupancy methodology developed herein. Furthermore, the advantages innate to AXD (e.g., smaller crystal sizes, shorter collection times, and greater availability of synchrotron resources) versus neutron diffraction further support the need for its development as a standard technique.

Atomic View of Aqueous Cyclosporine A: Unpacking a Decades-Old Mystery.

An atomic view of a main aqueous conformation of cyclosporine A (CycA), an important 11-amino-acid macrocyclic immunosuppressant, is reported. For decades, it has been a grand challenge to determine the conformation of free CycA in an aqueous-like solution given its poor water solubility. Using a combination of X-ray and single-crystal neutron diffraction, we unambiguously resolve a unique conformer (A1) with a novel cis-amide between residues 11 and 1 and two water ligands that stabilize hydrogen bond networks. NMR spectroscopy and titration experiments indicate that the novel conformer is as abundant as the closed conformer in 90/10 (v/v) methanol/water and is the main conformer at 10/90 methanol/water. Five other conformers were also detected in 90/10 methanol/water, one in slow exchange with A1, another one in slow exchange with the closed form and three minor ones, one of which contains two cis amides Abu2-Sar3 and MeBmt1-MeVal11. These conformers help better understand the wide spectrum of membrane permeability observed for CycA analogues and, to some extent, the binding of CycA to protein targets.

Weyl-mediated helical magnetism in NdAlSi.

Emergent relativistic quasiparticles in Weyl semimetals are the source of exotic electronic properties such as surface Fermi arcs, the anomalous Hall effect and negative magnetoresistance, all observed in real materials. Whereas these phenomena highlight the effect of Weyl fermions on the electronic transport properties, less is known about what collective phenomena they may support. Here, we report a Weyl semimetal, NdAlSi, that offers an example. Using neutron diffraction, we found a long-wavelength helical magnetic order in NdAlSi, the periodicity of which is linked to the nesting vector between two topologically non-trivial Fermi pockets, which we characterize using density functional theory and quantum oscillation measurements. We further show the chiral transverse component of the spin structure is promoted by bond-oriented Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions associated with Weyl exchange processes. Our work provides a rare example of Weyl fermions driving collective magnetism.

Spectroscopic Studies of the Magnetic Excitation and Spin-Phonon Couplings in a Single-Molecule Magnet.

Large separations between ground and excited magnetic states in single-molecule magnets (SMMs) are desirable to reduce the likelihood of spin reversal in the molecules. Spin-phonon coupling is a process leading to magnetic relaxation. Both the reversal and coupling, making SMMs lose magnetic moments, are undesirable. However, direct determination of large magnetic states separations (>45 cm-1 ) is challenging, and few detailed investigations of the spin-phonon coupling have been conducted. The magnetic separation in [Co(12-crown-4)2 ](I3 )2 (12-crown-4) (1) is determined and its spin-phonon coupling is probed by inelastic neutron scattering (INS) and far-IR spectroscopy. INS, using oriented single crystals, shows a magnetic transition at 49.4(1.0) cm-1 . Far-IR reveals that the magnetic transition and nearby phonons are coupled, a rarely observed phenomenon, with spin-phonon coupling constants of 1.7-2.5 cm-1 . The current work spectroscopically determines the ground-excited magnetic states separation in an SMM and quantifies its spin-phonon coupling, shedding light on the process causing magnetic relaxation.

Free H2 rotation vs Jahn-Teller constraints in the nonclassical trigonal (TPB)Co-H2 complex.

Proton exchange within the M-H2 moiety of (TPB)Co(H2) (Co-H2; TPB = B(o-C6H4P(i)Pr2)3) by 2-fold rotation about the M-H2 axis is probed through EPR/ENDOR studies and a neutron diffraction crystal structure. This complex is compared with previously studied (SiP(iPr)3)Fe(H2) (Fe-H2) (SiP(iPr)3 = [Si(o-C6H4P(i)Pr2)3]). The g-values for Co-H2 and Fe-H2 show that both have the Jahn-Teller (JT)-active (2)E ground state (idealized C3 symmetry) with doubly degenerate frontier orbitals, (e)(3) = [|mL ± 2>](3) = [x(2) - y(2), xy](3), but with stronger linear vibronic coupling for Co-H2. The observation of (1)H ENDOR signals from the Co-HD complex, (2)H signals from the Co-D2/HD complexes, but no (1)H signals from the Co-H2 complex establishes that H2 undergoes proton exchange at 2 K through rotation around the Co-H2 axis, which introduces a quantum-statistical (Pauli-principle) requirement that the overall nuclear wave function be antisymmetric to exchange of identical protons (I = 1/2; Fermions), symmetric for identical deuterons (I = 1; Bosons). Analysis of the 1-D rotor problem indicates that Co-H2 exhibits rotor-like behavior in solution because the underlying C3 molecular symmetry combined with H2 exchange creates a dominant 6-fold barrier to H2 rotation. Fe-H2 instead shows H2 localization at 2 K because a dominant 2-fold barrier is introduced by strong Fe(3d)→ H2(σ*) π-backbonding that becomes dependent on the H2 orientation through quadratic JT distortion. ENDOR sensitively probes bonding along the L2-M-E axis (E = Si for Fe-H2; E = B for Co-H2). Notably, the isotropic (1)H/(2)H hyperfine coupling to the diatomic of Co-H2 is nearly 4-fold smaller than for Fe-H2.

Intermolecular interactions in solid-state metalloporphyrins and their impacts on crystal and molecular structures.

A variable-temperature (VT) crystal structure study of [Fe(TPP)Cl] (TPP(2-) = meso-tetraphenylporphyrinate) and Hirshfeld surface analyses of its structures and previously reported structures of [M(TPP)(NO)] (M = Fe, Co) reveal that intermolecular interactions are a significant factor in structure disorder in the three metalloporphyrins and phase changes in the nitrosyl complexes. These interactions cause, for example, an 8-fold disorder in the crystal structures of [M(TPP)(NO)] at room temperature that obscures the M-NO binding. Hirshfeld analyses of the structure of [Co(TPP)(NO)] indicate that the phase change from I4/m to P1 leads to an increase in void-volume percentage, permitting additional structural compression through tilting of the phenyl rings to offset the close-packing interactions at the interlayer positions in the crystal structures with temperature decrease. X-ray and neutron structure studies of [Fe(TPP)Cl] at 293, 143, and 20 K reveal a tilting of the phenyl groups away from being perpendicular to the porphyrin ring as a result of intermolecular interactions. Structural similarities and differences among the three complexes are identified and described by Hirshfeld surface and void-volume calculations.

Erratum: Expanding Lorentz and spectrum corrections to large volumes of reciprocal space for single-crystal time-of-flight neutron diffraction. Corrigendum.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1107/S1600576716001369.].

Expanding Lorentz and spectrum corrections to large volumes of reciprocal space for single-crystal time-of-flight neutron diffraction.

Evidence is mounting that potentially exploitable properties of technologically and chemically interesting crystalline materials are often attributable to local structure effects, which can be observed as modulated diffuse scattering (mDS) next to Bragg diffraction (BD). BD forms a regular sparse grid of intense discrete points in reciprocal space. Traditionally, the intensity of each Bragg peak is extracted by integration of each individual reflection first, followed by application of the required corrections. In contrast, mDS is weak and covers expansive volumes of reciprocal space close to, or between, Bragg reflections. For a representative measurement of the diffuse scattering, multiple sample orientations are generally required, where many points in reciprocal space are measured multiple times and the resulting data are combined. The common post-integration data reduction method is not optimal with regard to counting statistics. A general and inclusive data processing method is needed. In this contribution, a comprehensive data analysis approach is introduced to correct and merge the full volume of scattering data in a single step, while correctly accounting for the statistical weight of the individual measurements. Development of this new approach required the exploration of a data treatment and correction protocol that includes the entire collected reciprocal space volume, using neutron time-of-flight or wavelength-resolved data collected at TOPAZ at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Quantitative analysis of intermolecular interactions in orthorhombic rubrene.

Rubrene is one of the most studied organic semiconductors to date due to its high charge carrier mobility which makes it a potentially applicable compound in modern electronic devices. Previous electronic device characterizations and first principles theoretical calculations assigned the semiconducting properties of rubrene to the presence of a large overlap of the extended π-conjugated core between molecules. We present here the electron density distribution in rubrene at 20 K and at 100 K obtained using a combination of high-resolution X-ray and neutron diffraction data. The topology of the electron density and energies of intermolecular interactions are studied quantitatively. Specifically, the presence of Cπ⋯Cπ interactions between neighbouring tetracene backbones of the rubrene molecules is experimentally confirmed from a topological analysis of the electron density, Non-Covalent Interaction (NCI) analysis and the calculated interaction energy of molecular dimers. A significant contribution to the lattice energy of the crystal is provided by H-H interactions. The electron density features of H-H bonding, and the interaction energy of molecular dimers connected by H-H interaction clearly demonstrate an importance of these weak interactions in the stabilization of the crystal structure. The quantitative nature of the intermolecular interactions is virtually unchanged between 20 K and 100 K suggesting that any changes in carrier transport at these low temperatures would have a different origin. The obtained experimental results are further supported by theoretical calculations.