Electrophilic Trifluoromethylation of Dimetallofullerene Anions en Route to Air-Stable Single-Molecule Magnets with High Blocking Temperature of Magnetization

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Yaofeng Wang - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Georgios Velkos - , Chair of Experimental Solid State Physics, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Noel Jens Israel - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Marco Rosenkranz - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Bernd Büchner - , Clusters of Excellence ct.qmat: Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter, Chair of Experimental Solid State Physics, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Fupin Liu - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Alexey A. Popov - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)

Abstract

Lanthanide dimetallofullerenes with single-electron M-M bonds are an important class of single molecular magnets and qubit candidates, but stabilization of their unique electronic and spin structure in the form of a neutral molecule requires functionalization of the fullerene cage with a single radical group. The lack of selectivity of the currently available procedure results in a complicated and tedious separation process. Here we demonstrate that electrophilic trifluoromethylation of a mixture of metallofullerene anions with Umemoto reagent II is highly selective toward M2@C80- (M = Tb, Y) anions, yielding M2@C80(CF3) monoadducts as the main reaction product. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction study proved attachment of the CF3 group to the pentagon/hexagon/hexagon junction and revealed that positions of metal atoms inside the fullerene cage in the cocrystal with NiOEP are strongly related to the position of the porphyrin moieties. Magnetic characterization of Tb2@C80(CF3) showed that it is a robust single-molecule magnet with broad magnetic hysteresis, 100 s blocking temperature of 25 K, and the relaxation barrier of 801(4) K, corresponding to the flipping of the Tb magnetic moment in the strongly ferromagnetically coupled [Tb3+-e-Tb3+] spin system.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)18139-18149
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume143
Issue number43
Publication statusPublished - 3 Nov 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 34669376