Comparison of two field-induced Er-III single ion magnets

Abstract

We present the synthesis, magnetic and photophysical properties of four mononuclear LnIII complexes in two isostructural lattices containing GdIII and ErIII. A heptadentate Schiff base ligand and acetate versus trifluoroacetate were used to synthesise complexes 1-4, among which the two ErIII complexes 2 and 4 exhibit field-induced SIM behaviour with almost similar Ueff values (31.6 K for 2 and 32.7 K for 4). Ab initio calculations show the structure of the low-lying energy states and highlight that there is already significant tunnelling in the ground doublet state, but the application of a weak magnetic field of 0.05 T is sufficient for ac magnetic measurements to suppress tunnelling in the ground state. The calculated main magnetic axes (gZ) of the ground Kramers doublets show small differences between the two ErIII compounds 2 and 4 due to their different ligand fields.