Simple Method and Materials to Target Co(II)-Dy(III) Multi-Nuclear Magnetic Compounds and Single Molecule Magnets (SMMs): Synthesis, Structure, and Magnetic Studies

In this work, based on mixed N-, O-donor ligands, a series of Co(II)-Dy(III) compounds are synthesised and characterised by single crystal X-ray diffraction and magnetic studies. These compounds include Co-2(phen)(2)Dy(PhCOO)(7) (1), Co-2(phen)(2)Dy-2(PhCOO)(10) (2), Co(bpy)Dy(H2O)(CH3-PhCOO)(5) (3), Co(phen)Dy(H2O)(CH3-PhCOO)(5) (4), Co-2(phen)(2)Dy(NO2-PhCOO)(7) (5), Co-2(phen)(2)Dy-2(NO2-PhCOO)(10) (6), and Co-2(bpy)(2)Dy-2(NO2-PhCOO)(10) (7), where phen, bpy, CH3-PhCOOH, and NO2-PhCOOH are 1,10-phenanthroline, 2,2'-bipyridine, 3-methylbenzoic acid, and 3-nitrobenzoic acid, respectively. In these cases, di-, tri-, and tetranuclear Co-Dy clusters are observed. Direct current (DC) magnetic susceptibility reveals ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic behaviour, whilst dynamic magnetic studies disclose single molecule magnet (SMM)-like slow magnetic relaxation for most of these compounds.