Probing the structural and magnetic properties of a new family of centrosymmetric dinuclear lanthanide complexes

Abstract

A series of centrosymmetric dinuclear lanthanide complexes, including Gd^​III (1), Dy^​III (2), Ho^​III (3), Er^​III (4) and Yb^​III (5), have been synthesized and studied for the effects of lanthanide contraction on their magnetic properties. As a result of probing the magnetic properties of the Gd^​III analogue, 1, a weak antiferromagnetic intramolecular interaction was confirmed, with J = −0.01 cm⁻¹ and g = 2.01. The Dy^III complex, 2, was found to exhibit larger values of g_x and g_y in the ground doublet of individual Dy^III ions via ab initio calculations, and thus did not act as a SMM. Interestingly, the Er^III (4) and Yb^III (5) complexes exhibited slow relaxation of the magnetization under an applied dc field with effective energy barriers (U_eff) of 21 K and 22 K, respectively.