Hexanuclear, heterometallic, Ni₃Ln₃ complexes possessing O-capped homo- and heterometallic structural subunits: SMM behavior of the dysprosium analogue.

The reaction of hetero donor chelating mannich base ligand 6,6'-{(2-(dimethylamino)ethylazanediyl)bis(methylene)}bis(2-methoxy-4-methylphenol) with Ni(ClO4)2·6H2O and lanthanide(III) salts [Dy(III) (1); Tb(III) (2); Gd (III) (3); Ho(III) (4); and Er(III) (5)] in the presence of triethylamine and pivalic acid afforded a series of heterometallic hexanuclear Ni(II)-Ln(III) coordination compounds, [Ni3Ln3(μ3-O)(μ3-OH)3(L)3(μ-OOCCMe3)3]·(ClO4)·wCH3CN·xCH2Cl2·yCH3OH·zH2O [for 1, w = 8, x = 3, y = 0, z = 5.5; for 2, w = 0, x = 5, y = 0, z = 6.5; for 3, w = 15, x = 18, y = 3, z = 7.5; for 4, w = 15, x = 20, y = 6, z = 9.5; and for 5, w = 0, x = 3, y = 2, z = 3]. The molecular structure of these complexes reveals the presence of a monocationic hexanuclear derivative containing one perchlorate counteranion. The asymmetric unit of each of the hexanuclear derivatives comprises the dinuclear motif [NiLn(L)(μ3-O)(μ3-OH)(μ-Piv)]. The cation contains three interlinked O-capped clusters: one Ln(III)3O and three Ni(II)Ln(III)2O. Each of the lanthanide centers is eight- coordinated (distorted trigonal-dodecahedron), while the nickel centers are hexacoordinate (distorted octahedral). The study of the magnetic properties of all compounds are reported and suggests single molecule magnet behavior for the Dy(III) derivative (1).