A new family of high nuclearity CoII / DyIII coordination clusters possessing robust and unseen topologies † Benjamin Berko ff , a Kieran Gri ffi ths , a Alaa Abdul - Sada , a Graham

Mixing Co(NO3)2·6H2O/Dy(NO3)3·6H2O/(E)-4-(2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylideneamino)-2,3-dimethyl-1phenyl-1,2-dihydropyrazol-5-one (HL)/pivalic acid/Et3N in various solvents results in the synthesis of seven compounds formulated as [Co 2Dy III 2 (μ3-MeO)2(L)2(piv)4(NO3)2] (3), [Co Dy 3 (μ3-MeO)2(μ2MeO)2(L)2(piv)2(NO3)3]·2(CH3OH) (4·2CH3OH), 2[Co II 4Dy III 4 (μ2-O)2(μ3-OH)4(L)4(piv)8][Co II 2Dy III 5 (μ3-OH)6(L)2(piv)8(NO3)4] (5), [Co II 4Dy III 4 (μ2-O)2(μ3-OH)4(L)4(piv)8]·2(CH3CN) (6·2CH3CN), [Co II 2Dy III 5 (μ3-OH)6(L)2(piv)8(NO3)4]·4(CH3CN) (7·4CH3CN), [Co II 2Dy III 2 (μ3-OH)2(L)2(piv)2(NO3)2(EtOH)2(H2O)2](NO3)2·(EtOH) (8·EtOH) and [Co 4Dy III 4 (μ2-O)2(μ3-OH)4(L)4(piv)8] (9) with robust and unseen topologies. These show that the temperature and reaction time influence the formation of the final product. Preliminary magnetic studies, performed for 6 and 7 in the temperature range 2–300 K, are indicative of Single Molecule Magnet (SMM) behaviour. Moreover, analysis of the catalytic properties of compound 3 as an efficient catalyst for the synthesis of trans-4,5-diaminocyclopent-2-enones from 2-furaldehyde and primary amines has been carried out.