Polymorphism in a Cobalt-Based Single-Ion Magnet Tuning Its Barrier to Magnetization Relaxation.

A large barrier to magnetization reversal, a signature of a good single-molecule magnet (SMM), strongly depends on the structural environment of a paramagnetic metal ion. In a crystalline state, where SMM properties are usually measured, this environment is influenced by crystal packing, which may be different for the same chemical compound, as in polymorphs. Here we show that polymorphism can dramatically change the magnetic behavior of an SMM even with a very rigid coordination geometry. For a cobalt(II) clathrochelate, it results in an increase of the effective barrier from 109 to 180 cm-1, the latter value being the largest one reported to date for cobalt-based SMMs. Our finding thus highlights the importance of identifying possible polymorphic phases in search of new, even more efficient SMMs.

Chloride ion-aided self-assembly of pseudoclathrochelate metal tris-pyrazoloximates.

Chloride ion-aided one-pot template self-assembly of a mixed pyrazoloxime ligand with phenylboronic acid on a corresponding metal(II) ion as a matrix afforded the first boron-capped zinc, cobalt, iron, and manganese pseudoclathrochelate tris-pyrazoloximates. The presence of a pseudocross-linking hydrogen-bonded chloride ion is critical for their formation, as the same chloride-capped complexes were isolated even in the presence of large excesses of bromide and iodide ions. As revealed by X-ray diffraction, all complexes are capped with a chloride ion via three N-H···Cl hydrogen bonds that stabilize their pseudomacrobicyclic frameworks. The MN6 coordination polyhedra possess a distorted trigonal prismatic geometry, with the distortion angles φ between their nonequivalent N3 bases of approximately 0°. Temperature dependences of the effective magnetic moment for the paramagnetic complexes showed the encapsulated metal(II) ions to be in a high-spin state in the temperature range of 2-300 K. In the case of the iron(II) pseudoclathrochelate, density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT calculations were used to assess its spin state as well as the (57)Fe Mössbauer and UV-vis-NIR parameters. Cyclic voltammetry studies performed for these pseudomacrobicyclic complexes showed them to undergo irreversible or quasi-reversible metal-localized oxidations and reductions. As no changes are observed in the presence of a substantial excess of bromide ion, no anion-exchange reaction occurs, and thus the pseudoclathrochelates have a high affinity toward chloride anions in solution.

A Mononuclear Mn(II) Pseudoclathrochelate Complex Studied by Multi-Frequency Electron-Paramagnetic-Resonance Spectroscopy.

Knowledge of the correlation between structural and spectroscopic properties of transition-metal complexes is essential to deepen the understanding of their role in catalysis, molecular magnetism, and biological inorganic chemistry. It provides topological and, sometimes, functional insight with respect to the active site properties of metalloproteins. The electronic structure of a high-spin mononuclear Mn(II) pseudoclathrochelate complex has been investigated by electron-paramagnetic-resonance (EPR) spectroscopy at 9.5 and 275.7 GHz. A substantial, virtually axial zero-field splitting with D = -9.7 GHz (-0.32 cm(-1)) is found, which is the largest one reported to date for a Mn(II) complex with six nitrogen atoms in the first coordination sphere.

Bis-{(E)-3-[2-(hy-droxy-imino)-propan-amido]-2,2-dimethyl-propan-1-aminium} bis[µ-(E)-N-(3-amino-2,2-dimethyl-prop-yl)-2-(hy-droxy-imino)-propanamido-(2-)]bis-{[(E)-N-(3-amino-2,2-dimethyl-prop-yl)-2-(hy-droxy-imino)-propanamide]-copper(II)} bis-((E)-{3-[2-(hy-droxy-imino)-propanamido]-2,2-dimethyl-prop-yl}carbamate) acetonitrile disolvate.

The reaction between copper(II) nitrate and (E)-N-(3-amino-2,2-dimethyl-prop-yl)-2-(hy-droxy-imino)-propanamide led to the formation of the dinuclear centrosymmetric copper(II) title complex, (C8H18N3O2)2[Cu2(C8H15N3O2)2(C8H17N3O2)2](C9H16N3O4)2·2CH3CN, in which an inversion center is located at the midpoint of the Cu2 unit in the center of the neutral [Cu2(C8H15N3O2)2(C8H17N3O2)2] complex fragment. The Cu(2+) ions are connected by two N-O bridging groups [Cu⋯Cu separation = 4.0608 (5) Å] while the Cu(II) ions are five-coordinated in a square-pyramidal N4O coordination environment. The complex mol-ecule co-crystallizes with two mol-ecules of acetonitrile, two mol-ecules of the protonated ligand (E)-3-[2-(hy-droxy-imino)-propanamido]-2,2-dimethyl-propan-1-aminium and two negatively charged (E)-{3-[2-(hy-droxy-imino)-propanamido]-2,2-dimethyl-prop-yl}carbamate anions, which were probably formed as a result of condensation between (E)-N-(3-amino-2,2-dimethyl-prop-yl)-2-(hy-droxy-imino)-propanamide and hydro-gencarbonate anions. In the crystal, the complex fragment [Cu2(C8H15N3O2)2(C8H17N3O2)2] and the ion pair C8H18N3O2(+.)C9H16N3O4(-) are connected via an extended system of hydrogen bonds.

Efficient catalytic phosphate ester cleavage by binuclear zinc(II) pyrazolate complexes as functional models of metallophosphatases.

A series of dizinc(II) complexes based on the pyrazolate ligands 3-[(1E)-N-hydroxyethanimidoyl]-4-methyl-1H-pyrazole-5-carboxylic acid (H(3)L(1)), (1E,1'E)-1,1'-(4-methyl-1H-pyrazole-3,5-diyl)diethanone dihydrazone (HL(2)), (E,E)-(4-methyl-1H-pyrazole-3,5-diyl)bis(methylmethanone) dioxime (H(3)L(3)), (E,E)-(4-phenyl-1H-pyrazole-3,5-diyl)bis(phenylmethanone) dioxime (H(3)L(4)), and 1H-pyrazole-3,5-dicarboxylic acid (H(3)L(5)) have been synthesized and investigated as functional models of phosphoesterases, focusing on correlations between the hydrolytic activity and molecular parameters of the bimetallic core. Speciation of the various dizinc complexes in solution has been determined potentiometrically, and the structures in the solid state have been established by X-ray crystallography. The hydrolysis of two phosphoesters, an RNA model 2-hydroxypropyl-p-nitrophenyl phosphate (HPNP) and the pesticide paraoxon-ethyl (POE), promoted by the dinuclear phosphoesterase model complexes has been investigated in DMSO/buffered water (1:1) at 50 degrees C as a function of complex concentration, substrate concentration, and pH. Drastic differences in the hydrolytic activities of [Zn(2)(HL(1))(2)](0), [Zn(2)(L(2))(2)](2+), [Zn(2)(H(2)L(3))(2)](2+), and [Zn(2)(HL(5))(2)](2-) are observed and can be attributed to molecular peculiarities. Pyrazolate-bridged dinuclear zinc(II) complexes seem to provide a sufficient number of coordination sites for both activating the substrate and generating the nucleophile, where the phosphate esters are preferentially bound in a bidentate bridging fashion (in the case of HPNP) and in a monodentate fashion (in the case of POE).