A new Fe6ferric cluster: synthesis, crystal structure and magnetic propertiesElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Figures S1–S4. CCDC reference number 612862. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/b808916g

A new FeIII6cluster, [Fe3L2(ida)(μ-OH)3(μ-O)]2·4ClO4·2CH3OH·8H2O (1) (where L = N-methyl-N,N-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)amine; H2ida = iminodiacetic acid), has been synthesized and magnetic properties are shown. The asymmetric unit of 1contains a triangular [Fe3L2(ida)(μ-OH)3(μ-O)]2+unit and two such trinuclear units are further connected by two ida2−, generating a hexanuclear FeIIIcore in 1. Variable temperature magnetic susceptibility studies reveal the presence of dominant antiferromagnetic exchange interactions and the variable-field and temperature magnetization measurements establish that each Fe3cluster has S= 5/2 ground state and the coupling between the two moieties is almost zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]