Clusters of metal ions that possess large numbers of magnetically coupled unpaired electrons have attracted much interest in recent years due to their fascinating magnetic behavior. With an appreciable component of magnetic anisotropy, these large-spin paramagnetic molecules can exhibit an energy barrier to inversion of their magnetic dipole, leading to spontaneous magnetization and magnetic hysteresis below a critical temperature. Since this behavior is a property of an individual clusters rather than a collection of molecules, this phenomenon has been dubbed ??Single Molecule Magnetism??. Our approach to the study of new high-spin systems has been to exert a measure of synthetic control in the preparation of clusters. Specifically we are employing highly anisotropic metal ions with the anticipation that these ions would engender large overall magnetic anisotropy in the resulting clusters. The first step in this process was the development of the chemistry of two new d5 ReII (S = ??) complexes, namely [ReII(triphos)(CH3CN)3][PF6]2 and [Et4N][ReII(triphos)(CN)3]. The magnetic, optical and electrochemical properties were studied and theoretical models were developed to describe the origin of the large temperature independent paramagnetism that was observed. Next, we successfully employed transition metal cyanide chemistry using the ReII building blocks to prepare a family of isostructural, cubic clusters of the general formula {[MCl]4[Re(triphos)(CN)3]4} M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn whose 3d ions adopt local tetrahedral geometries. Within the clusters, magnetic exchange is observed between the paramagnetic ions, which has been modeled using an Ising exchange model to account for the dominating anisotropy of the ReII ion. Despite the high pseudo-symmetry of the clusters (Td), this work has yielded a rare example of a metal-cyanide single molecule magnet, {[MCl]4[Re(triphos)(CN)3]4} with an S = 8 ground state, D = -0.39 cm-1 and an effective energy barrier for magnetization reversal of Ueff = 8.8 cm-1. The elucidation of this family of isostructural clusters has also allowed us to pursue fundamental work on the structure/property relationships of the exotic, paramagnetic ReII ion. As the clusters are soluble, stable compounds, the future of this chemistry lies in the development of a true building-block approach to ??super-clusters?? that exhibit very high ground state spin values.

Clusters of metal ions that possess large numbers of magnetically coupled unpaired electrons have attracted much interest in recent years due to their fascinating magnetic behavior. With an appreciable component of magnetic anisotropy, these large-spin paramagnetic molecules can exhibit an energy barrier to inversion of their magnetic dipole, leading to spontaneous magnetization and magnetic hysteresis below a critical temperature. Since this behavior is a property of an individual clusters rather than a collection of molecules, this phenomenon has been dubbed ??Single Molecule Magnetism??. Our approach to the study of new high-spin systems has been to exert a measure of synthetic control in the preparation of clusters. Specifically we are employing highly anisotropic metal ions with the anticipation that these ions would engender large overall magnetic anisotropy in the resulting clusters. The first step in this process was the development of the chemistry of two new d5 ReII (S = ??) complexes, namely [ReII(triphos)(CH3CN)3][PF6]2 and [Et4N][ReII(triphos)(CN)3]. The magnetic, optical and electrochemical properties were studied and theoretical models were developed to describe the origin of the large temperature independent paramagnetism that was observed. Next, we successfully employed transition metal cyanide chemistry using the ReII building blocks to prepare a family of isostructural, cubic clusters of the general formula {[MCl]4[Re(triphos)(CN)3]4} M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn whose 3d ions adopt local tetrahedral geometries. Within the clusters, magnetic exchange is observed between the paramagnetic ions, which has been modeled using an Ising exchange model to account for the dominating anisotropy of the ReII ion. Despite the high pseudo-symmetry of the clusters (Td), this work has yielded a rare example of a metal-cyanide single molecule magnet, {[MCl]4[Re(triphos)(CN)3]4} with an S = 8 ground state, D = -0.39 cm-1 and an effective energy barrier for magnetization reversal of Ueff = 8.8 cm-1. The elucidation of this family of isostructural clusters has also allowed us to pursue fundamental work on the structure/property relationships of the exotic, paramagnetic ReII ion. As the clusters are soluble, stable compounds, the future of this chemistry lies in the development of a true building-block approach to ??super-clusters?? that exhibit very high ground state spin values.

The cyanide ligand has frequently been used to prepare clusters with novel magnetic properties due to its ability to provide an efficient pathway for superexchange between metal centers that are bound in an end-to-end fashion. One of the common synthetic approaches in this chemistry is to design suitable cyanide containing precursors and then to react such building blocks with metal complexes consisting of accessible sites. The triphos ligand (triphos: 1,1,1-tris(diphenylphosphinomethyl)ethane) has been employed in this vein to prepare metal complexes, one of which is a five coordinate paramagnetic complex (S = 1/2) with a square pyramidal metal center, [CoII(triphos)(CN)2]. A family of molecular squares, [{MIICl2}2{CoII(triphos)(CN)2}2] (M= Mn (2), Fe (3), Co (4), Ni (5), and Zn (6)), has been synthesized by the reaction of CoII(triphos)(CN)2 and MCl2 (M= Mn, Co, Ni, Zn) or Fe4Cl8(THF)6 in CH2Cl2/EtOH mixture. A series of cyanide-bridged trinuclear complexes, {[Co(triphos)(CN)2]2 [M(MeOH)4]}(ClO4)2 ( M = Mn (7), Fe (8), Co (9), and Ni (10)) and tetranuclear complexes, {[Co(triphos)(CN)2]2[M(MeOH)4]2}(ClO4)4 ([Co2M2] M = Mn (11) and Ni (12)) have been synthesized in a similar fashion by the reaction of CoII(triphos)(CN)2 and M(ClO4)2.6H2O (M= Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) in methanol. The trinuclear compounds (7-9), and tetranuclear complexes (2-6, 11, 12), are characterized by antiferromagnetic coupling between metal centers while magnetic behavior of 10 indicates the presence of ferromagnetic interactions between the paramagnetic metal centers. Interactions between magnetic orbitals of Co(II) and M(II) ions were also investigated by means of the density functional theoretical (DFT) calculations. Another triphos containing building block, [(triphos)Re(CN)3] anion (13), has been employed to prepare derivatives of a cubic SMM cluster with four octahedral Re(II) ions and four tetrahedral Mn(II) sites bridging through cyanide ligand. The reactions of Re(II) precursor with MnI2 and solvated Mn(II) ions resulting in derivatives of Re4Mn4 cube with different ligands attached to the Mn center other than the chloride atom were reported. Our efforts on linking these cubes using organo cyanide ligands such as dicyanamide (dca) and 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) to form extended networks were also discussed.