The molecular and supramolecular aspects in mononuclear manganese(iii) Schiff-base spin crossover complexes.

Manganese(iii) hexadentate Schiff base complexes ([Mn(sal-N-1,5,8,12)]Y·S, Y = AsF6 (1); Y = SbF6 (2); Y = NO3, S = C2H5OH (3) and Y = Cl (4)) have been investigated to determine the impact of anion effects, intramolecular ligand distortions, and intermolecular supramolecular structures on the spin crossover (SCO) behavior. The crystal structure of [Mn(sal-N-1,5,8,12)]PF6, a complex known to exhibit an abrupt SCO behavior with an 8 K hysteresis window, reveals that this complex has a temperature-dependent anion order-disorder transition that disrupts the hydrogen-bonding chain upon SCO, indicating that hydrogen bonds between cations and anions greatly influence the magnetic properties. The SCO in 1 is mediated by intermolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions. The subtle balance of these hydrogen bonds induces a cooperative SCO process with a hysteresis width of 18 K, which is the largest one reported in the d4 SCO chemistry. For 2, crystal structural analysis indicates that changing the anion from AsF6- to SbF6- led to close stackings between phenyl groups from ligands. These stackings preclude the spin transition of the [Mn(sal-N-1,5,8,12)]+ cations. With NO3- and Cl- as counterions, the [Mn(sal-N-1,5,8,12)]+ cations are arranged more loosely and exhibit gradual SCO in the temperature range of 300-100 K. Careful evaluation of the supramolecular structures of these complexes and similar complexes reported previously revealed strong correlation between the supramolecular packing forces and their magnetic properties.

Structural insights into the counterion effects on the manganese(III) spin crossover system with hexadentate Schiff-base ligands.

A series of new salts [Mn(5-MeO-sal-N-1,5,8,12)]Y (Y = ClO4 for 1, Y = BF4 for 2, Y = NO3 for 3 and Y = CF3SO3 for 4) based on the six-coordinated mononuclear manganese(iii) Schiff-base complex cation [Mn(5-MeO-sal-N-1,5,8,12)](+), has been investigated to determine the impact of counter anion effects, intramolecular ligand distortion and intermolecular supramolecular structures on the spin crossover (SCO) behavior. The SCO in salt 1 has resulted in a crystallographic observation of the coexistence of high-spin (HS, S = 2) and low-spin (LS, S = 1) manganese(iii) complex cations in equal proportions around 100 K. At room temperature, the two crystallographically distinct manganese centers are both close to the complete HS state. Only one of the two slightly different units undergoes SCO in the temperature range 300-180 K, whereas the other remains in the HS state down to 20 K. For salts 2 and 3, crystal structural analysis indicates change in the anion from ClO4(-) to BF4(-) and NO3(-) was led to the close arrangement of the cations and the stacking between phenyl groups from the ligands. With CF3SO3(-) as the counterion, although the cations and the anions separate clearly in one direction, the close arrangement of cations in other directions precludes the spin transformation of the Mn(iii) cations. Magnetic measurements on 2-4 indicate that the manganese(iii) complex cations remain in the HS state in the temperature range 2-300 K.