Neutral dicyanidoferrate(II) metalloligands for the rational design of dysprosium(III) single-molecule magnets.

Diamagnetic -dicyanidoferrate(II) complexes bearing blocking aromatic diimines, -[Fe(CN)(L)] (L = 2,2'-bipyridine, 1,10'-phenanthroline) serve as metalloligands to Dy centres leading to a rigid cyanido-bridged chain of vertex-sharing {DyFe} squares which constrains the equatorial plane of embedded 4f metal ions. This results in a novel convenient route to rationally designed single-molecule magnets as the magnetic anisotropy of Dy centres can be efficiently generated by inserting aromatic -oxide ligands on labile axial positions.