Reaction of a manganese(III)-Schiff base complex with gadolinium nitrate: synthesis, structure and magnetic properties of an ionic species [LMn(H2O)2]2[Gd(NO3)5(MeOH)](H2L = 1,3-bis((3-methoxysalicylidene)amino)-2,2-dimethylpropane)

The crystal structure of an ionic entity formulated {[LMn(H2O)2]2[Gd(NO3)5(MeOH)]} resulting from the reaction of a manganese(III) Schiff-base complex (H2L = 1,3-bis((3-methoxysalicylidene)amino)-2,2ʹ-dimethylpropane) with Gd(NO3)3·5H2O has been determined. The manganese(III) ion exhibits an octahedral geometry where the basal plane involves the N2O2 inner donor set of the Schiff base and the apical positions are occupied by the water oxygen atoms. The gadolinium(III) ion is ten-coordinate to four bidentate nitrate groups, one monodentate nitrate group and one methanol oxygen atom. As expected from the structural data, the magnetic study confirms the absence of Mn...Mn and Mn...Gd interactions. Indeed the metal ions are separated by large distances without any material support between them. The MnIII ZFS, which is the only active parameter, has to be taken into account to fit the experimental data at low temperature (D=-4.58 cm^-1). The negative sign is in agreement with the tetragonal elongation of the manganese environment.