Magnetic properties after irradiation of 1:4 complexes consisting of CoX2, X=NCS⁻, Cl⁻, and NCO⁻, and phenylpyridyldiazomethane in dilute frozen solutions: axial ligand effect in heterospin single-molecule magnets.

The solutions of 1:4 complexes of Co(X)(2)(D1py)(4), X = Cl(-), and NCO(-) and D1py = phenylpyridyldiazomethane, were photolyzed under cryogenic conditions, and their magnetic properties were investigated by direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) magneto/susceptometries. After irradiation, the resulting cobalt-carbene complexes, Co(X)(2)(C1py)(4), exhibited the behaviors of heterospin single-molecule magnets (SMMs) strongly depending on the axial ligands. In Co(X)(2)(C1py)(4): X = Cl(-) and NCO(-), the effective activation barriers, U(eff), for the reorientation of the magnetic moment and the resonant quantum tunneling time, τ(Q), characteristic to SMM properties were estimated to be 91 and 130 K, and 4 × 10(3) and 2 × 10(5) s, respectively. The τ(Q) of Co(NCS)(2)(C1py)(4) with U(eff) = 89 K was found to be 6 × 10(2) s. In Co(X)(2)(C1py)(4): X = Cl(-) and NCO(-), temperature-dependent hysteresis loops were also observed below the blocking temperature (T(B) = 3.2 and 4.8 K, respectively) and the coercive forces, H(c), of 7.0 and 20 kOe at 1.9 K, respectively, were obtained. In a series of 1:4 complexes of Co(X)(2)(C1py)(4), X = NCS(-), Cl(-), and NCO(-), the axial ligands strongly affected the heterospin SMM properties, and the NCO(-) ion having the large magnitude of the ligand-field splitting in a spectrochemical series, gave the largest U(eff) and H(c) and the longest τ(Q).