Phase Transition Control in Molecular Solids via Complementarity of Hydrogen-Bond Strength.

Phase transitions in molecular solids involve synergistic changes in chemical and electronic structures, leading to diversification in physical and chemical properties. Despite the pivotal role of hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) in many phase-transition materials, it is rare and challenging to chemically regulate the dynamics and to elucidate the structure-property relationship. Here, four high-spin CoII compounds were isolated and systematically investigated by modifying the ligand terminal groups (X=S, Se) and substituents (Y=Cl, Br). S-Cl and Se-Br undergo a reversible structural phase transition near room temperature, triggering the rotation of 15-crown-5 guests and the swing between syn- and anti-conformation of NCX- ligands, accompanied by switchable magnetism. Conversely, S-Br and Se-Cl retain stability in ordered and disordered phases, respectively. H-bonds geometric analysis and ab initio calculations reveal that the electronegativity of X and Y affects the strength of NY-ap-H⋅⋅⋅X interactions. Entropy-driven structural phase transitions occur when the H-bond strength is appropriate; otherwise, the phase stays unchanged if it is too strong or weak. This work highlights a phase transition driven by H-bond strength complementarity - pairing strong acceptor with weak donor and vice versa, which offers a straightforward and effective approach for designing phase-transition molecular solids from a chemical perspective.

Reversible Switchability of Magnetic Anisotropy and Magnetodielectric Effect Induced by Intermolecular Motion.

Introducing magnetic switchability into artificial molecular machines is fascinating for precise control of magnetism via external stimuli. Herein, a field-induced CoII single-molecule magnet was found to exhibit the reversible switch of Jahn-Teller distortion near room temperature, along with thermal conformational motion of the 18-crown-6 rotor, which pulls the coordinated H2 O to rotate through intermolecular hydrogen bonds and triggers a single-crystal-to-single-crystal phase transition with Twarm =282 K and Tcool =276 K. Interestingly, the molecular magnetic anisotropy probed by single-crystal angular-resolved magnetometry revealed the reorientation of easy axis by 14.6°. Moreover, ON/OFF negative magnetodielectric effects were respectively observed in the high-/low-temperature phase, which manifests the spin-lattice interaction in the high-temperature phase could be stronger, in accompanied by the hydrogen bonding between the rotating 18-crown-6 and the coordinated H2 O.