Pressure Induced Crossover between a Ferromagnetic and a Canted Antiferromagnetic State for [Bis(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)-iron(III)][Tetracyanoethenide], [FeCp₂*][TCNE]

The reversible hydrostatic pressure dependent DC magnetic behavior of the ferromagnetically ordered electron transfer salt [Fe^IIICp₂*]^•+[TCNE]^•– (Cp* = pentamethylcyclopentadienide; TCNE = tetracyanoethylene) was studied up to 12.2 kbar. A significant departure from the ambient pressure ferromagnetic behavior was observed under pressure. The temperature dependent magnetization data were typical of a ferromagnet at ambient pressure but exhibited an extreme reduction with increasing applied pressure, while metamagnetic-like behavior was evident in the field dependent magnetization data at 4.2 kbar and above. Hence, the decrease of the intermolecular separations due to increasing pressure enhances the nearest neighbor couplings, leading to an increase in magnetic ordering temperature, <i>T</i>_c. Furthermore, the presence of a metamagnetic-like behavior suggests an increase of the antiferromagnetic contribution to the interchain interactions. The low field magnetization data indicate that spin canting is induced by pressure, leading to a canted antiferromagnetic phase with a much lower magnetization than the low-pressure ferromagnetic state. This unprecedented magnetic behavior is consistent with the field, temperature, and pressure dependences of the magnetization below 20 K