Magnetic ordering in a vanadium-organic coordination polymer using a pyrrolo[2,3-:5,4-']bis(thiazole)-based ligand.

Here we present the synthesis and characterization of a hybrid vanadium-organic coordination polymer with robust magnetic order, a Curie temperature of ∼110 K, a coercive field of ∼5 Oe at 5 K, and a maximum mass magnetization of about half that of the benchmark ferrimagnetic vanadium(tetracyanoethylene) (V·(TCNE)). This material was prepared using a new tetracyano-substituted quinoidal organic small molecule 7 based on a tricyclic heterocycle 4-hexyl-4-pyrrolo[2,3-:5,4-']bis(thiazole) (C-PBTz). Single crystal X-ray diffraction of the 2,6-diiodo derivative of the parent C-PBTz, showed a disordered hexyl chain and a nearly linear arrangement of the substituents in positions 2 and 6 of the tricyclic core. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that C-PBTz-based ligand 7 is a strong acceptor with an electron affinity larger than that of TCNE and several other ligands previously used in molecular magnets. This effect is due in part to the electron-deficient thiazole rings and extended delocalization of the frontier molecular orbitals. The ligand detailed in this study, a representative example of fused heterocycle aromatic cores with extended π conjugation, introduces new opportunities for structure-magnetic-property correlation studies where the chemistry of the tricyclic heterocycles can modulate the electronic properties and the substituent at the central -position can vary the spatial characteristics of the magnetic polymer.