Assembly Studies of Two Planar Dy4 Single-Molecule Magnets

Two tetranuclear Dy(III) complexes formulated as [Dy-4(L-1)(2)(L ')(4)(EtOH)(2)(CH3CN)(2)(H2O)(2)]Cl-2 (1) and [Dy-4(HL2)(2)(L ')(4)(MeOH)(6)]Cl-2 center dot 3MeOH center dot 2CH(3)CN (2) were synthesized from the reactions of DyCl3 center dot 6H(2)O with the corresponding 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde Schiff bases under hydrothermal conditions (H3L1 = 2-methyl-2-((2 '-hydroxynaphthalen-1 '-yl)-methyleneamino)propanediol, HL ' = 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde, and H4L2 = 2-(hydroxymethyl)-2-((2 '-hydroxynaphthalen-1 '-yl)-methyleneamino)propanediol). The two Dy(III) complexes possess planar rhombus tetranuclear skeletons with different substitution groups on the Schiff base ligand. The magnetic investigation revealed field-induced single-molecule magnets for the two titled clusters. It suggests that both coordinated solvent molecules and substitution groups have a certain tuning effect on the single-molecule magnet performance. Their assembling processes were further investigated through time-dependent high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, giving possible assembling mechanisms for the two titled single-molecule magnets.