The first trinuclear manganese triplesalen complex: Synthesis, structural, and magnetic characterization of [(talenNO2){MnIII(DMSO)2}3](ClO4)3[(talenNO2){MnIII(DMSO)2}3](ClO4)3

The reaction of the nitro-substituted triplesalen ligand H6talenNO2H6talenNO2 with Mn(ClO4)2·6H2O in CH3CN in the presence of Et3N and DMSO results in the formation of [(talenNO2){MnIII(DMSO)2}3](ClO4)3[(talenNO2){MnIII(DMSO)2}3](ClO4)3 (1) which has been characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, UV–vis–NIR, ESI-MS, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and magnetic measurements. The triplesalen ligand (talenNO2)6−(talenNO2)6− provides three salen-like coordination environments bridged in a meta-phenylene arrangement by a phloroglucinol backbone. The coordination environment of each MnIII ion is completed by two O-bonded DMSO molecules. The folding of the triplesalen ligand results in an overall dish-like geometry for the trication in 1. The magnetic characterization has been performed by temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility measurements and variable temperature–variable field (VTVH) magnetization data in order to determine both the exchange couplings J between the Si = 2 ion and the local zero-field splittings Di. Simulations to the appropriate spin-Hamiltonian using a full-matrix diagonalization approach provided a weak antiferromagnetic interaction J = −0.30 ± 0.05 cm−1 but a strong magnetic anisotropy expressed by D = −4.0 ± 0.4 cm−1. The potential applications of 1 and forthcoming members of this new family of trinuclear manganese triplesalen complexes in molecule-based magnetism and homogenous catalysis are discussed.