Custom coordination environments for lanthanoids: tripodal ligands achieve near-perfect octahedral coordination for two dysprosium-based molecular nanomagnets

Controlling the coordination sphere of lanthanoid complexes is a challenging critical step toward controlling their relaxation properties. Here we present the synthesis of hexacoordinated dysprosium single-molecule magnets, where tripodal ligands achieve a near-perfect octahedral coordination. We perform a complete experimental and theoretical investigation of their magnetic properties, including a full single-crystal magnetic anisotropy analysis. The combination of electrostatic and crystal-field computational tools (SIMPRE and CONDON codes) allows us to explain the static behavior of these systems in detail. NRF-2015R1A2A1A10055658 Grant NRF-2012-0008901 NRF2010-0020209 ERC-CoG-647301 DEC…