Tuning magnetic anisotropy via terminal ligands along the Dy⋯Dy orientation in novel centrosymmetric [Dy2] single molecule magnets.

Four DyIII complexes, [Dy2(NO3)4(L)2(H2O)2]·2MeCN (1), [Dy2(NO3)4(L)2(H2O)2]·2(NO3)·DMBD·2MeOH (2), [Dy2(NO3)4(L)2(TPO)2]·2MeCN (3) and [Dy2(L′)6(H2O)2]·4MeCN (4), were elaborately synthesized, structurally characterized and magnetically investigated (HL = 2,6-dimethoxyphenol, HL′ = 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde, DMBD = 1,1′-dimethyl-[4,4′-bipyridine]-1,1′-diium and TPO = phosphine triphenyl oxide). In 1–3, the nearly planar molecular structures consisting of two DyIII ions and two L ligands are almost perpendicular to four nitrate ligands, which provides an opportunity to introduce auxiliary ligands (H2O or TPO) at the terminal position along the Dy⋯Dy orientation of [Dy2]. The slightly discrepant coordination environment around the DyIII ion with different terminal ligands plays a key role in tuning the magnetic anisotropy, and further strongly affects the magnetic properties of 1–4. The magnetic studies reveal that they all behave as single-molecule magnets (SMMs) at zero dc field with ferromagnetic dipole–dipole interaction between DyIII ions. The dynamic magnetic investigations give the energy barriers of 107.5 (1), 127.1 (2), 168.7 (3) and 251.9 K (4), respectively. The magnetic axis orientation of the ground state gradually verges on the Dy–Oaux bond from 1 to 4, leading to the stronger uniaxial anisotropy of DyIII ions and better SMM properties of 3 and 4. In addition, complexes 3 and 4 possess higher energy barriers than reported dinuclear DyIII-SMMs also constructed from HL or HL' with β-diketone. It is believed that the ligands coordinating to the DyIII ion at both terminals of the Dy⋯Dy linkage improve the SMM properties of dinuclear DyIII complexes. This design may provide a new strategy for obtaining dinuclear DyIII-based SMMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]