Synthesis, structure and magnetic investigations of dinuclear lanthanide complexes based on 2-ethoxycinnamate.

A series of dinuclear lanthanide complexes incorporating the 2-ethoxycinnamate ligand have been synthesized and characterized using elemental analyses, infra-red spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements. Depending on the nature of the lanthanide ion, three different isostructural series of respective formulas, [Ln(L)3(DMSO)(H2O)]2 (Ln = Ce (1), Nd (2)), [Ln(L)3(DMSO)x(DMF)y(H2O)]2 (Ln = Gd (3), Dy (5) and Er (6)) and [Tb(L)3(DMF)(H2O)]2 (4) have been obtained. Investigations of their magnetic properties reveal a genuine single-molecule magnet behaviour observed for the dysprosium based compound 5, while a field-induced slow relaxation of the magnetization is found for compounds 1, 2 and 3.