Magnetic anisotropy of the antiferromagnetic ring [Cr8F8Piv16].
A new tetragonal (P42(1)2) crystalline form of [Cr8F8Piv16] (HPiv = pivalic acid, trimethyl acetic acid) is reported. The ring-shaped molecules, which are aligned in a parallel fashion in the unit cell, form almost perfectly planar, regular octagons. The interaction between the CrIII ions is antiferromagnetic (J = 12 cm(-1)) which results in a S = 0 spin ground state. The low-lying spin excited states were investigated by cantilever torque magnetometry (CTM) and high-frequency EPR (HFEPR). The compound shows hard-axis anisotropy. The axial zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameters of the first two spin excited states (S = 1 and S = 2, respectively) are D1 = 1.59(3) cm(-1) or 1.63 cm(-1) (from CTM and HFEPR, respectively) and D2 = 0.37 cm(-1) (from HFEPR). The dipolar contributions to the ZFS of the S = 1 and S = 2 spin states were calculated with the point dipolar approximation. These contributions proved to be less than the combined single-ion contributions. Angular overlap model calculations that used parameters obtained from the electronic absorption spectrum, showed that the unique axis of the single-ion ZFS is at an angle of 19.3(1) degrees with respect to the ring axis. The excellent agreement between the experimental and the theoretical results show the validity of the used methods for the analysis of the magnetic anisotropy in antiferromagnetic CrIII rings.
van Slageren
Joris
J
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Firenze and UdR, INSTM di Firenze, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Sessoli
Roberta
R
Gatteschi
Dante
D
Smith
Andrew A
AA
Helliwell
Madeleine
M
Winpenny
Richard E P
RE
Cornia
Andrea
A
Barra
Anne-Laure
AL
Jansen
Aloysius G M
AG
Rentschler
Eva
E
Timco
Grigore A
GA