Antiferromagnetic order in a supramolecular assembly of manganese trimers based on imidazole and Schiff-base ligands

A new trinuclear manganese cluster, [Mn3(O2CCH3)4(sae)2(HIm)2] (1) (H2sae = 2-salicylideneaminoethanol, HIm = imidazole), has been prepared. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveals an interesting one-dimensional supramolecular arrangement of the [Mn3(O2CCH3)4(sae)2(HIm)2] trimers induced by HIm axial ligands and hydrogen bonding interactions. The magnetic measurements show that trimer units in 1 exhibit an ST = 3/2 ground state and order antiferromagnetically below 0.37 K.