A novel high-spin heterometallic Ni12K4cluster incorporating large Ni–azide circles and an in situ cyanomethylated di-2-pyridyl ketone

Reaction of di-2-pyridyl ketone (dpk) with nickel acetate and azide in the presence of potassium tert-butylate as a catalytic base generates the title compound, which contains the largest [Ni(m1,1-N3)]6 circles in the discrete ferromagnetically-coupled MII–azide cluster family, and shows an unprecedented in situ cyanomethylation of ketone. Clemente Juan, Juan Modesto, Juan.M.Clemente@uv.es