Field-Assisted Slow Magnetic Relaxation in a Six-Coordinate Co(II)–Co(III) Complex with Large Negative Anisotropy

The reaction of Co­(CH₃COO)₂·4H₂O with the Schiff base ligand LH₄ derived from o-vanillin and tris­(hydroxymethyl)­aminomethane produces the dinuclear mixed-valence complex [Co^IICo^III(LH₂)₂(CH₃COO)­(H₂O)]­(H₂O)₃ (1), which has been investigated using IR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, HFEPR spectroscopy, and ac susceptibility measurements at various frequencies, temperatures, and external magnetic fields. The structure of 1 consists of neutral molecules in which two cobalt ions with distorted octahedral geometries, Co^IIO₆ and Co^IIIN₂O₄, are bridged by two deprotonated −CH₂O^– groups of the two LH₂^2– ligands. 1 completes a series with Cl, Br, NO₃, and NCS anions published before by different authors. Low-temperature HFEPR measurements reveal that the ground electronic state of the Co­(II) center in 1 is a highly anisotropic Kramers doublet; the effective g values of 7.18, 2.97, and 1.96 are frequency-independent over the frequency ranges 200–630, 200–406, and 200–300 GHz for the highest, intermediate, and lowest g_eff values, respectively. The two lower values were not seen at higher frequencies because the magnetic field was not high enough. Temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility and field-dependent magnetization data confirm high magnetic anisotropy of the easy axis type. Complex 1 behaves as a single-ion magnet under a small applied external field and demonstrates two relaxation modes that strongly depend on the applied static dc field. The observation of multiple relaxation pathways clearly distinguishes 1 from the Cl and Br analogues.