Cobalt(II) Terpyridin-4′-yl Nitroxide Complex as an Exchange-Coupled Spin-Crossover Material

pin-crossover (SCO) was studied in [Co(L)2](CF3SO3)2, where L stands for diamagnetic 2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine (tpy) and its paramagnetic derivative, 4′-{4-tert-butyl(N-oxy)aminophenyl}-substituted tpy (tpyphNO). The X-ray crystallographic analysis clarified the Co-N bond length change (Δd) in high- and low-temperature structures; Δdcentral = 0.12 and Δddistal = 0.05 Å between 90 and 400 K for L = tpy and Δdcentral = 0.11 and Δddistal = 0.06 Å between 90 and 300 K for L = tpyphNO. The low- and high-temperature structures can be assigned to approximate low- and high-spin states, respectively. The magnetic susceptibility measurements revealed that the χmT value of [Co(tpyphNO)2](CF3SO3)2 had a bias from that of [Co(tpy)2](CF3SO3)2 by the contribution of the two radical spins. The tpy compound showed a gradual SCO around 260 K and on cooling the χmT value displayed a plateau down to 2 K. On the other hand, the tpyphNO compound showed a relatively abrupt SCO at ca. 140 K together with a second decrease of the χmT value on further cooling below ca. 20 K. From the second decrease, Co-nitroxide exchange coupling was characterized as antiferromagnetic with 2JCo-rad/kB = −3.00(6) K in the spin-Hamiltonian H = −2JCo-rad(SCo·Srad1 + SCo·Srad2). The magnetic moment apparently switches double-stepwise as 1 μB ⇄ 3 μB ⇄ 5 μB by temperature stimulus