A family of cyano-bridged 3d−4f 1D chain compounds, {RE[TM(CN)6(2-PNO)5]}·(H2O)4 {RE = YIII, TM = [FeIII]LS (1); RE = DyIII, TM = CoIII (3); RE = ErIII, TM = [FeIII]LS (4),...

Differential magnetic properties were observed for triangular dodecahedral dysprosium analogues in a type of cyano-bridged 3d–4f zig-zag chain compound.

Three isostructural cyano-bridged 3d-4f linear heterotrinuclear compounds, (H 2.5 O) 4 {Ln[TM(CN) 5 (CNH 0.5)] 2 (HMPA) 4 } (Ln = Y III , TM = [Fe III ] LS (1); Ln = Dy III , TM = [Fe III ] LS (2); Ln = Dy III , TM = Co III (3)), have been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Due to the steric effect of the HMPA ligands, the central lanthanide ions in these compounds possess a low coordination number, six-coordinate, exhibiting a coordination geometry of an axially elongated octahedron with a perfect D 4h symmetry. Four HMPA ligands situate in the equatorial plane around the central lanthanide ions, and two [TM(CN) 5 (CNH 0.5)] 2.5− entities occupy the apical positions to form a cyano-bridged 3d-4f linear heterotrinuclear structure. The static magnetic analysis of the three compounds indicated a paramagnetic behavior of compounds 1 and 3, and possible small magnetic interactions between the intramolecular Dy III and [Fe III ] LS ions in compound 2. Under zero dc field, the ac magnetic measurements on 2 and 3 revealed the in-phase component (χ) of the ac susceptibility without frequency dependence and silent out-of-phase component (χ"), which was attributed to the QTM effect induced by the coordination geometry of an axially elongated octahedron for the Dy III ion. Even under a 1 kOe applied dc field, the χ" components of 2 were revealed frequency dependence without peaks above 2 K. And under a 2 kOe and 3 kOe dc field, the χ" components of 3 exhibited weak frequency dependence below 4 K with the absence of well-shaped peaks, which confirmed the poor single-ion magnetic relaxation behavior of the six-coordinate Dy III ion excluding any influence from the neighboring [Fe III ] LS ions as that in the analogue 2.