Synthesis, crystal structure and magnetic properties of a cyanide-bridged heterobimetallic trinuclear image complex based on K[Cr(salen)(CN)2] building block

A new cyanide-containing building block K[Cr(salen)(CN)2] (H2salen = N,N′-bis(salicyl)ethylenediamine) with two trans cyanide groups has been exploited to assembly cyanide-bridged low-dimensional complexes. A cyanide-bridged heterobimetallic centrosymmetric trinuclear CrIII–MnII–CrIII complex [Cr(salen)(CN)2]2[Mn(phen)2] · 2H2O (1) has been synthesized and its structure has been characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis. The magnetic coupling between Mn(II) and Cr(III) ions in the title complex was found to be antiferromagnetic with JMnCr = −2.02(2) cm−1 on the basis of the Hamiltonian image.