Construction of copper(II)–dysprosium(III)–iron(III) trinuclear cluster based on Schiff base ligand: Synthesis, structure and magnetism

•Two new structural fashions of the Cu(II)-Schiff base complexes were obtained.•The trinuclear CuIIDyIIIFeIII cluster was synthesized and characterized.•Ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions were found for the Cu(II)-Schiff base complexes.

Three new complexes of [CuL(H2O)]3 (1), [{Cu2L(H2O)3}{CuL}2](ClO4)2·H2O (2) and {CuDyL}{Fe(CN)6}·CH3CN·10H2O (3) (L = N,N′-ethylenebis(3-methoxy salicylideneiminato) dianion) based on Schiff base ligand was synthesized using self-assembly method, and characterized both structurally and magnetically. The asymmetric unit of complex 1 is composed of three mononuclear Cu(II) species. When complex 1 reacts to Cu(ClO4)2·6H2O, complex 2 is formed. Different from 1, complex 2 contains the co-existed mono- and dinuclear Cu(II) units. Interestingly, when the Dy (III) ion and hexacyanometallate are introduced into the system, the trinuclear 3d-3d′-4f complex of 3 is formed. Magnetic studies reveal the ferromagnetic nature of complex 1 but antiferromagnetic nature of 2. For 3, the magnetic behavior is affected by both the magnetic coupling and the single ion anisotropy of DyIII ion.

Graphical abstractThree new magnetic complexes based on copper(II)-Schiff base were synthesized and characterized both structurally and magnetically. The synthesis routes related to these complexes are interesting because the small change of the reaction conditions would afford quite different structures. Besides, the trinuclear CuIIDyIIIFeIII cluster which is not reported so far was synthesized and characterized.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide