Temperature- and vapor-induced reversible single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformations of three 2D/3D GdIII-organic frameworks exhibiting significant magnetocaloric effects.

By using Gd2O3, propanedioic acid (H2pda) and oxalic acid (H2ox), a new Gd-based metal-organic framework (MOF) [Gd(pda)(ox)0.5(H2O)2]n (1) has been successfully constructed and structurally characterized. Interestingly, temperature- and vapor-induced reversible single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformations occurred and two new MOFs, namely [Gd(pda)(ox)0.5(H2O)]n (1a) and [Gd(pda)(ox)0.5]n (1b), have been obtained. Complex 1 displays a two-dimensional (2D) layer structure composed of zigzag [Gd(pda)]n chains and it could also be made up of numerous Gd6 macrocycles. Thermal dehydration leads to more complicated three-dimensional (3D) 'pillar-layer' structures (1a and 1b) with the same coordination mode of pda2- anions. Magnetic studies suggest the presence of ferromagnetic couplings between the intrachain or intralayer GdIII ions and large magnetocaloric effects (MCEs) with -ΔS = 45.0 J kg-1 K-1 (1), 46.1 J kg-1 K-1 (1a) and 46.8 J kg-1 K-1 (1b) under a 7 T applied field. Therefore, the interest of 'robust magnetocaloric MOFs' is now extended to compounds showing weak ferromagnetic couplings and hence having better magnetocaloric performances for small field changes.