Novel square planar copper(II) complexes with imino or nitronyl nitroxide radicals exhibiting large ferro- and antiferromagnetic interactions.

This paper reports the synthesis, crystal structures, and magnetic properties of two copper(II) complexes (1, 2) of general formula Cu(tfac)2(radical)2 (tfac = trifluoroacetate; radical = (1) 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (NITPh) or (2) 2-phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazoline-1- oxyl (IMPh)). They crystallize in the monoclinic P2(1)/n space group with the following parameters: (1) a = 13.212(2) A, b = 9.136(1) A, c = 15.587(2) A, beta = 114.61(1) degrees, Z = 2; (2) a = 11.059(2) A, b = 15.289(1) A, c = 10.694(2) A, beta = 114.20(1) degrees, Z = 2. In both complexes the copper(II) ion is coordinated to two radicals in a slightly distorted square planar surrounding. The copper(II)-radical exchange couplings are antiferromagnetic for the nitronyl nitroxide (NITPh) complex (1) and ferromagnetic in the case of the imino nitroxide (IMPh) analogue (2). The ground state has been found to be a spin-doublet for 1 and the spin-quartet for 2. No thermal population of the highest states has been observed, indicating copper(II)-radical couplings of magnitude of J > 500 cm-1.