Abstract
A new dysprosium(III)-nickel(II) heterometallic cluster, namely, [(Dy3Ni4II)-Ni-III(L)(6)(OH)(4)(CH3OH)(3)(CH3CN) (NO3)(OH2)]center dot(CH3CN)(3)(CH3OH)(2) (H2O)(2) (1), has been synthesized from the schiff-base ligand H2L (L = o-phenolsalicylimine), dysprosium nitrate and nickel nitrate. A single-crystal X-ray diffraction study reveals that the highly asymmetric core of 1 consists of an unprecedented edge-sharing arrangement of three dissimilar Dy2Ni triangles, along with one Dy2Ni2 rectangle, connected to one side of the central metallic core. Both static (dc) and dynamic (ac) magnetic properties of 1 have been studied. The results reveal that compound 1 exhibits slow relaxation of the magnetization, making 1 a remarkable new addition to the family of Ln-Ni single molecule magnets, having a new asymmetric Ni4Dy3-architecture.