Spin transition in heptanuclear star-shaped iron(III)–antimony(V) NCS- and CN-bridged compounds

Abstract The precursor [FeIII(L)Cl] (LH2 = N,N′-bis(2′-hydroxy-benzyliden)-1,6-diamino-3-azahexane) has been prepared and Mossbauer spectroscopy assigned a high-spin (S = 5/2) state at room temperature. The precursor is combined with the bridging units [SbV(X)6]− (X = CN−, NCS−) to yield star-shaped heptanuclear clusters [(LFeIII–X)6SbV]Cl5. The star-shaped compounds are in general high-spin systems at room temperature. On cooling to 20 K some of the iron(III) centers switch to the low-spin state as indicated by Mossbauer spectroscopy, i.e. multiple electronic transitions. While the cyano-bridged complex performs a multiple spin transition the thiocyanate-compound shows no significant popul…