| Summary: | Ferric ferrocyanide (Prussian blue) and its analogues are renowned for the variety of properties and applications associated with them. At the same time, however, they suffer from issues related to their variable composition and poor crystallinity. As a result, we are preparing discrete cyanide-bridged clusters both to mimic these materials and to search for properties unique to the molecule, such as single molecule magnetism. The work in this dissertation has focused on the expansion of series of trigonal bipyramidal (TBP) cyanide-bridged clusters, [M(tmphen)2]3[M′(CN)6]2, that exhibit a variety of properties including spin crossover, charge-transfer-induced spin transition, and photomagnetism.
One goal of the work was focused on the preparation of new paramagnetic TBP clusters incorporating various 3d metal ion combinations. Nine new clusters were prepared and characterized, including several “model compounds” with only one type of paramagnetic metal ion. The magnetic properties of these model compounds were combined to better explain the coupling through the cyanide ligands in clusters with two paramagnetic metal centers. An additional two clusters were also prepared that were found to exhibit a thermally induced LS Fe^II -> HS Fe^II transition. The spin crossover event was confirmed by magnetic susceptibility and Mössbauer spectroscopy, and variable temperature X-ray crystallography revealed the transitions to be distinct for each FeII center and dependant on the interstitial solvent. Another major goal of the work was to investigate the TBP clusters for their potential to be used as building-blocks to prepare 1-D extended structures of linked clusters, such as a {[Co(tmphen)2]3[Fe(CN)6]2[Mn(MeOH)4]}∞(ClO4)3 chain. A final research goal was a search for photomagnetic behavior, the change in magnetic properties with irradiation, related to spin transitions in several key TBP clusters. The Fe3Fe2 and Fe3Co2 TBP clusters were found to exhibit a light-induced excited spin state trapping (the LIESST effect) similar to that observed in mononuclear FeII compounds, and the photo-induced charge transfer that has been observed in Co-Fe Prussian blue materials is mimicked by the Co3Fe2 TBP molecular analogue.
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