Structural and magnetic studies of tetranuclear heterometallic M/Cr (M = Co, Mn) complexes self-assembled from zerovalent cobalt or manganese, Reineckes salt and diethanolamine

Abstract Four novel heterometallic complexes [Co2Cr2(NCS)4(HDea)2(Dea)2]·4dmf (1), [Co2Cr2(NCS)4(HDea)2(Dea)2]·4dmso (2), [Mn2Cr2(NCS)4(HDea)2(Dea)2(dmf)2]·2dmf (3) and [Mn2Cr2(NCS)4(HDea)2(Dea)2(dmso)2]·4dmso (4) have been prepared using zerovalent cobalt (1, 2) or manganese (3, 4), Reineckes salt, ammonium thiocyanate and a non-aqueous solution of diethanolamine (H2Dea) in air. The single X-ray analysis reveals that all compounds have similar centrosymmetric crystal structures based on a tetranuclear {M2Cr2(μ3-O)2(μ-O)4} (M = Co, Mn) core. Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements of 1, 2 and 4 show antiferromagnetic coupling between the magnetic centers, while 3 exhibits …