Syntheses, crystal structures, and magnetic properties of one-dimensional oxalato-bridged Co(II), Ni(II), and Cu(II) complexes with n-aminopyridine (n = 2-4) as terminal ligand.

The reaction of M(ox) x 2H(2)O (M = Co(II), Ni(II)) or K(2)(Cu(ox)(2)) x 2H(2)O (ox = oxalate dianion) with n-ampy (n = 2, 3, 4; n-ampy = n-aminopyridine) and potassium oxalate monohydrate yields one-dimensional oxalato-bridged metal(II) complexes which have been characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, variable-temperature magnetic measurements, and X-ray diffraction methods. The complexes M(mu-ox)(2-ampy)(2) (M = Co (1), Ni (2), Cu (3)) are isomorphous and crystallize in the monoclinic space group C2/c (No. 15), Z = 4, with unit cell parameters for 1 of a = 13.885(2) A, b = 11.010(2) A, c = 8.755(1) A, and beta = 94.21(2) degrees. The compounds M(mu-ox)(3-ampy)(2).1.5H(2)O (M = Co (4), Ni (5), Cu (6)) are also isomorphous and crystallize in the orthorhombic space group Pcnn (No. 52), Z = 8, with unit cell parameters for 6 of a = 12.387(1), b = 12.935(3), and c = 18.632(2) A. Compound Co(mu-ox)(4-ampy)(2) (7) crystallizes in the space group C2/c (No. 15), Z = 4, with unit cell parameters of a = 16.478(3) A, b = 5.484(1) A, c = 16.592(2) A, and beta = 117.76(1) degrees. Complexes M(mu-ox)(4-ampy)(2) (M = Ni (8), Cu (9)) crystallize in the orthorhombic space group Fddd (No. 70), Z = 8, with unit cell parameters for 8 of a = 5.342(1), b = 17.078(3), and c = 29.469(4) A. All compounds are comprised of one-dimensional chains in which M(n-ampy)(2)(2+) units are sequentially bridged by bis-bidentate oxalato ligands with M.M intrachain distances in the range of 5.34-5.66 A. In all cases, the metal atoms are six-coordinated to four oxygen atoms, belonging to two bridging oxalato ligands, and the endo-cyclic nitrogen atoms, from two n-ampy ligands, building distorted octahedral surroundings. The aromatic bases are bound to the metal atom in cis (1-6) or trans (7-9) positions. Magnetic susceptibility measurements in the temperature range of 2-300 K show the occurrence of antiferromagnetic intrachain interactions except for the compound 3 in which a weak ferromagnetic coupling is observed. Compound 7 shows spontaneous magnetization below 8 K, which corresponds to the presence of spin canted antiferromagnetism.