By changing the counterions (ClO4
– and CF3SO3
–) and the coordination
anions (Cl– and Br–), we investigated
their influences on the structures and performances of a class of
Zn2Dy chiral single-molecule magnets (SMMs), which are
based on a pair of chiral Schiff bases R,R-H2LSchiff and S,S-H2LSchiff {R,R-H2LSchiff = 2-((E)-((1R,2R)-2-((E)-2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylideneamino)cyclohexylimino)methyl)-6-methoxyphenol
and S,S-H2LSchiff = 2-((E)-((1S,2S)-2-((E)-2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylideneamino)cyclohexylimino)methyl)-6-methoxyphenol}.
Three pairs of chiral Zn2Dy Schiff base complexes were
obtained by directed synthesis, which are [DyZn2(R,R-L
Schiff)Cl2(H2O)](ClO4)·0.5MeOH·0.25H2O (R-1) and [DyZn2(S,S-L
Schiff)Cl2(H2O)][DyZn2(S,S-L
Schiff)Cl2(MeOH)](ClO4)2·MeOH·0.5H2O (S-1), [DyZn2(R,R-L
Schiff)Cl2(H2O)](CF3SO3)·0.5MeOH
(R-2) and [DyZn2(S,S-L
Schiff)Cl2(H2O)][DyZn2(S,S-L
Schiff)Cl2(MeOH)](CF3SO3)2·MeOH (S-2), and [DyZn2(R,R-L
Schiff)Br2(H2O)](CF3SO3)·0.25MeOH (R-3) and [DyZn2(S,S-L
Schiff)Br2(H2O)][DyZn2(S,S-L
Schiff)Br2(MeOH)](CF3SO3)2 (S-3). They all exhibit good SMM behaviors, and their magnet relaxation
is regulated by not only the counterions (ClO4
– and CF3SO3
–) but also the
coordination anions (Cl– and Br–); these anions also have important effects on the second-harmonic
generation (SHG) and third harmonic generation (THG) nonlinear optical
properties. Interestingly, in the S-configuration
complexes, the coordination solvent molecule of the Dy3+ ion on half of the molecules is the methanol molecule instead of
the water molecule. This change in the coordinating solvent molecule
can also significantly affect the SMM behaviors and the SHG and THG
nonlinear optical properties. Moreover, ab initio calculations were
applied to rationally explain the SMM properties.