6533b857fe1ef96bd12b4cab

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Analyzing the enforcement of a high-spin ground state for a metallacrown single-molecule magnet

subject

description

We have studied element-selective magnetic properties of the hetero- and homometallic metallacrowns $\mathrm{Cu}{(\mathrm{II})}_{2}[12\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{MC}}_{YN(Shi)}\ensuremath{-}4]$ ($Y=\text{Cu}$, Fe, in short ${\mathrm{CuCu}}_{4}$ and ${\mathrm{CuFe}}_{4}$). These metallacrowns comprise four Fe or Cu ions surrounding a central Cu ion. Using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism we have probed local symmetries, electronic configuration, orbital and spin magnetic moments of the magnetic ions. The ratio between the Cu and Fe moment of $\ensuremath{-}0.11$ is independent of temperature in the range of 15 K to 90 K. The Cu moment shows antiparallel to the Fe moment. For ${\mathrm{CuCu}}_{4}$ we confirm the predicted $S=1/2$ ground state. The comparison of the spectral dependence indicates a localization of the magnetic moment at the central Cu ion. The orbital to spin moment ratio is 0.03 for the Fe ion while a larger ratio of 0.12 was measured for the Cu ion in both compounds. The experimental results are compared to a mean field model and to an isotropic Heisenberg model.