Spin frustration and concealed asymmetry: structure and magnetic spectrum of [Fe3O(O2CPh)6(py)3]ClO4·py †

Abstract

The oxo-centred trinuclear complex [Fe3O(O2CPh)6(py)3]ClO4·py and its fully deuteriated analogue have been synthesized. X-Ray crystallography at T = 233 K shows that the complex has threefold symmetry, space group P63/m. Incoherent inelastic neutron scattering spectra at T = 1.5 K however show the presence of two inequivalent sets of molecules, one a static “isosceles” coupled system, with two J values for the three metal–metal interactions, the other a dynamic system, with rapid pseudorotation between equivalent isosceles geometries. Combining infrared and neutron scattering data, the distortion of the cluster has been estimated.