Polydentate-ligand-supported self-assembly of heterometallic T-shaped Co4RE (RE = Gd, Tb, Y) clusters: synthesis, structure and magnetism.

A series of mixed-valent heterometallic pentanuclear Co(III)(3)Co(II)RE(III) (RE = Gd (1), Tb (2), Y (3)) clusters have been rationally assembled by taking advantage of a bifunctional ligand with o-vanillin and tripodal tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane units. Structural determinations reveal that all compounds are isomorphous and possess a T-shaped Co(4)RE core, which comprises two nearly linear Co(2)RE subunits sharing a common RE ion. Their magnetic properties were thoroughly studied. The static magnetic susceptibility studies of 1 demonstrate the presence of weak ferromagnetic interactions between the magnetic centres and magnetic anisotropy reflected by the single ion zero-field splitting (ZFS) D term. Both 1 and 2 behave magnetically as heterodinuclear metal systems, while the magnetic behaviour of 3 is identical to an isolated Co(II) ion. Moreover, alternating-current susceptibility measurements did not exhibit any out-of-phase signal, suggesting that slow magnetic relaxation is absent above 2 K within them. These isomorphous Co(4)RE clusters offer an opportunity to systematically probe the contribution of different metal ions to the overall magnetic behaviour in Co(II)-RE(III) systems.