The introduction
of (N2)3–• radicals into multinuclear
lanthanide molecular magnets raised hysteresis
temperatures by stimulating strong exchange coupling between spin
centers. Radical ligands with larger donor atoms could promote more
efficient magnetic coupling between lanthanides to provide superior
magnetic properties. Here, we show that heavy chalcogens (S, Se, Te)
are primed to fulfill these criteria. The moderately reducing Sm(II)
complex, [Sm(N††)2], where N†† is the bulky bis(triisopropylsilyl)amide ligand,
can be oxidized (i) by diphenyldichalcogenides E2Ph2 (E = S, Se, Te) to form the mononuclear series [Sm(N††)2(EPh)] (E = S, 1-S; Se, 1-Se, Te, 1-Te); (ii) S8 or Se8 to give dinuclear [{Sm(N††)2}2(μ-η2:η2-E2)] (E = S, 2-S2
; Se, 2-Se2
); or (iii) with TePEt3 to yield [{Sm(N††)2}(μ-Te)]
(3). These complexes have been characterized by single
crystal X-ray diffraction, multinuclear NMR, FTIR, and electronic
spectroscopy; the steric bulk of N†† dictates
the formation of mononuclear complexes with chalcogenate ligands and
dinuclear species with the chalcogenides. The Lα1 fluorescence-detected X-ray absorption spectra at the Sm L3-edge yielded resolved pre-edge and white-line peaks for 1-S and 2-E
2
, which served to calibrate
our computational protocol in the successful reproduction of the spectral
features. This method was employed to elucidate the ground state electronic
structures for proposed oxidized and reduced variants of 2-E
2
. Reactivity is ligand-based, forming species
with bridging superchalcogenide (E2)−• and subchalcogenide (E2)3–• radical
ligands. The extraordinarily large exchange couplings provided by
these dichalcogenide radicals reveal their suitability as potential
successors to the benchmark (N2)3–• complexes in molecular magnets.