Synthesis and characterization of homo- and heterodinuclear M(II)-M'(III) (M(II) = Mn or Fe, M'(III) = Fe or Co) mixed-valence supramolecular pseudo-dimers. The effect of hydrogen bonding on spin state selection of M(II).

Reaction of H(3)L(1), the Schiff base condensate of tris(2-aminoethyl)amine with three equivalents of 5-methyl-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxaldehyde, with manganese(II)perchlorate or iron(II)tetrafluoroborate results in the isolation of [MH(3)L(1)]X(2) (M = Mn and X = ClO(4) and M = Fe and X = BF(4)). These complexes are high spin d(5) and d(6), respectively, as inferred from the long M-N bond distances obtained by single crystal X-ray diffraction for both and variable temperature magnetic susceptibility and Mössbauer spectroscopy for the iron complex. Aerobic treatment of a solution of CoH(3)L(1) with three equivalents of potassium hydroxide produced [CoL(1)]. Homonuclear pseudo-dimers were prepared by the aerobic reaction of FeH(3)L(1)(2) with 1.5 equivalents of potassium hydroxide to give {FeH(1.5)L(1)}(2) or by the metathesis reaction of [FeH(2)L(1)]FeHL(1)(2) with sodium hexafluorophosphate to give [FeH(3)L(1)]FeL(1)(2). The complexes were characterized by EA, IR, ESI-MS, variable temperature single crystal x-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy. The iron(III) atom is low spin while the iron(II) atom is spin crossover. Heteronuclear pseudo-dimers were prepared by the 1:1 reaction of FeH(3)L(1)(2) or MnH(3)L(1)(2) with [CoL(1)]. [MH(3)L(1)]CoL(1)(2) (M = Fe and X = BF(4) or M = Mn and X = ClO(4)), were characterized by IR, EA, variable temperature single crystal X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy in the iron case. The data support a spin crossover and high spin assignment for the iron(II) and manganese(II), respectively. DFT calculations demonstrate that the spin state of the iron(II) atom in {[FeH(3)L(1)][FeL(1)]}(2+) changes from high spin to low spin as the iron(II)-iron(III) distance decreases. This is supported by experimental results and is a result of hydrogen bonding interactions which cause a significant compression of the M(II)-N(pyrazole) bond distances.