Ferroelectric and Spin Crossover Behavior in a Cobalt(II) Compound Induced by Polar-Ligand-Substituent Motion.

Ferroelectric spin crossover (SCO) behavior is demonstrated to occur in the cobalt(II) complex, [Co(FPh-terpy)2 ](BPh4 )2 ⋅3ac (1⋅3 ac; FPh-terpy=4'-((3-fluorophenyl)ethynyl)-2,2':6',2''-terpyridine) and is dependent on the degree of 180° flip-flop motion of the ligand's polar fluorophenyl ring. Single crystal X-ray structures at several temperatures confirmed the flip-flop motion of fluorobenzene ring and also gave evidence for the SCO behavior with the latter behavior also confirmed by magnetic susceptibility measurements. The molecular motion of the fluorobenzene ring was also revealed using solid-state 19 F NMR spectroscopy. Thus the SCO behavior is accompanied by the flip-flop motion of the fluorobenzene ring, leading to destabilization of the low spin cobalt(II) state; with the magnitude of rotation able to be controlled by an electric field. This first example of spin-state conversion being dependent on the molecular motion of a ligand-appended fluorobenzene ring in a SCO cobalt(II) compound provides new insight for the design of a new category of molecule-based magnetoelectric materials.

Water Molecule-Induced Reversible Magnetic Switching in a Bis-Terpyridine Cobalt(II) Complex Exhibiting Coexistence of Spin Crossover and Orbital Transition Behaviors.

The development of molecule-based switchable materials remains an important challenge in the field of molecular science. Achievement of a structural phase transition induced by adsorption/desorption of guest molecules in spin crossover (SCO) Co(II) compounds is of significant interest because of the possibility that the spin state of the magnetic anisotropic high-spin (HS, S = 3/2) and low-spin (LS, S = 1/2) states can be switched via the induced changes in associated intermolecular interactions. In this study, we demonstrated a reversible magnetic switching associated with spin state conversion, along with a single-crystal to single-crystal (SCSC) phase transition induced by dehydration/rehydration. [Co(terpy)2](BF4)2·H2O (1·H2O; terpy = 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine) assembles in the solid state via π-π and CH-π interactions involving adjacent terpyridine cores along the ab direction to form two-dimensional (2D) layered domains. 1·H2O exhibits gradual and incomplete SCO, from fully HS to ca. 0.5 HS, and the field-induced single-molecule magnet (SMM) behavior attributed to the presence of the anisotropic partial high-spin Co(II) species. 1·H2O undergoes a SCSC transformation accompanied by a change from the tetragonal space group I41/a to P42/n via a dehydration process. Dehydrated 1 exhibits a reverse thermal hysteresis behavior (T1/2↑ = 287 K; T1/2↓ = 270 K) in the gradual SCO region from fully HS to ca. 0.5 HS, followed by an ordinary thermal hysteresis (T'1/2↑ = 195 K; T'1/2↓ = 155 K) to fully LS Co(II). A temperature-dependent single-crystal X-ray structural analysis revealed that the reverse hysteresis can be attributed to an order/disorder structural phase transition of the BF4- anions involving a symmetry breaking to yield the monoclinic space group P21/n and orbital (angular momentum) transition (LT). Both the SCSC phase transition and magnetic behavior are switchable by dehydration/rehydration processes; thus 1 again adsorbs water at room temperature to give both the original structure and its magnetic behavior.

CO2 -Induced Spin-State Switching at Room Temperature in a Monomeric Cobalt(II) Complex with the Porous Nature.

CO2 -responsive spin-state conversion between high-spin (HS) and low-spin (LS) states at room temperature was achieved in a monomeric cobalt(II) complex. A neutral cobalt(II) complex, [CoII (COO-terpy)2 ]⋅4 H2 O (1⋅4 H2 O), stably formed cavities generated via π-π stacking motifs and hydrogen bond networks, resulting in the accommodation of four water molecules. Crystalline 1⋅4 H2 O transformed to solvent-free 1 without loss of porosity by heating to 420 K. Compound 1 exhibited a selective CO2 adsorption via a gate-open type of the structural modification. Furthermore, the HS/LS transition temperature (T1/2 ) was able to be tuned by the CO2 pressure over a wide temperature range. Unlike 1 exhibits the HS state at 290 K, the CO2 -accomodated form 1⊃CO2 (P CO 2 =110 kPa) was stabilized in the LS state at 290 K, probably caused by a chemical pressure effect by CO2 accommodation, which provides reversible spin-state conversion by introducing/evacuating CO2 gas into/from 1.

A Rare Example of a Complete, Incomplete, and Non-Occurring Spin Transition in a [Fe2L3]X4 Series Driven by a Combination of Solvent-and Halide-Anion-Mediated Steric Factors.

A trend between the degree of steric congestion of the Fe(II) coordination environment and the extent of spin transition (percentage completeness) has been observed in a series of halide salts of a dinuclear triple helicate architecture with the general form [Fe2L3]X4 (where X = Cl- for 1, Br- for 2, and (I-)3/I3- for 3, and L is (1E,1'E)-N,N'-(oxybis(4,1-phenylene))bis(1-(1H-imidazol-4-yl)methanimine). Crystal packing densities of adjacent helicates were found to decrease with increasing anion size. Greater steric congestion by neighboring helicates favored the [HS-HS] state of the dinuclear triple helicate architecture. As a result, the highly crowded Cl- salt (1) did not undergo spin-crossover (SCO), the more congested Br- salt (2) underwent an incomplete solvent-dependent transition, and the least crowded (I-)3/I3- analogue (3) exhibited a full SCO from the [HS-HS] ↔ [LS-LS] state. Furthermore, an interesting two-step transition was observed in the Br- salt, exhibiting a 28 K thermal hysteresis in the higher temperature step, the largest thermal hysteresis reported to date for a Fe(II) dinuclear triple helicate system. Variable-temperature single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) analysis of 2 demonstrated that this two-step profile was found to be the result of crystallographic parameters evolving in a two-step manner with temperature, rather than a crystallographic phase change.

Thermally Induced Valence Tautomeric Transition in a Two-Dimensional Fe-Tetraoxolene Honeycomb Network.

A novel tetraoxolene-bridged Fe two-dimensional honeycomb layered compound, (NPr4 )2 [Fe2 (Cl2 An)3 ] ⋅2 (acetone)⋅H2 O (1), where Cl2 Ann- =2,5-dichloro-3,6-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinonate and NPr4+ =tetrapropylammonium cation, has been synthesized. 1 revealed a thermally induced valence tautomeric transition at T1/2 =236 K (cooling)/237 K (heating) between Fem+ (m=2 or 3) and Cl2 Ann- (n=2 or 3) that induced valence modulations between [FeIIHS FeIIIHS (Cl2 An2- )2 (Cl2 An.3- )]2- at T>T1/2 and [FeIIIHS FeIIIHS (Cl2 An2- )(Cl2 An.3- )2 ]2- at T

Three-dimensional iron(ii) porous coordination polymer exhibiting carbon dioxide-dependent spin crossover.

We report a three-dimensional Fe(ii) porous coordination polymer that exhibits a spin crossover temperature change following CO2 sorption (though not N2 sorption). Furthermore, single crystals of the desolvated polymer with CO2 molecules at three different temperatures were characterised by X-ray crystallography.