An investigation into lanthanide–lanthanide magnetic interactions in a series of [Ln2(mdeaH2)2(piv)6] dimers

A series of six isostructural lanthanide dimers of general formula [Ln2(mdeaH2)2(piv)6], where mdeaH2 is N-methyldiethanolamine, piv is pivalate, and Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, and Gd, has been surveyed to gauge the nature of the magnetic interactions between the lanthanide centres. Single-crystal X-ray structure analyses indicate that the lanthanides are connected by syn,syn-carboxylate bridges. It was found from an analysis of their bulk magnetic susceptibilities as a function of temperature that this type of bridge mediates vanishingly small magnetic interactions. This finding is important in the context of developing synthetic strategies for the preparation of new molecular based magnetic materials.