Syntheses and characterization of five rare earth complexes constructed by 8-hydroxyquinoline derivative ligands: Single-molecule magnet behavior in dysprosium(III) complex

•An interesting in situ ligand transformation occurred during the formation of 1–4.•Two Y2 complexes exhibit luminescence that are similar to ligand.•Complex 3 shows SMM behavior with effective anisotropy barrier of 30.943 K.

Five rare earth complexes with 8-hydroxyquinoline derivatives as ligands were synthesized and characterized. The starting ligand L1 undergoes in situ ligand transformation in the formation of the complexes 1–4. Complexes 1–5 display binuclear structures. Complexes 1 and 5 exhibit luminescence that are similar with ligand. Magnetic studies indicate that 3 shows slow magnetic relaxation with the effective anisotropy barrier (ΔE/kB = 30.9 K).

Graphical abstractReaction of RE(dbm)3 ∙ 2H2O (RE = Y, Tb, Dy, Ho) and 8-hydroxyquinoline derivative ligands in different solvents resulted in five rare earth complexes. Complex 3 shows SMM behavior and is a novel 8-hydroxyquinoline-based Dy2 SMM.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide