Properties of [Fe(Salten)Cl] Being a Precursor for Spin-Crossover Compounds in Polycrystals and Vitrified Acetonitrile Solutions

Abstract

The complexes of precursor with pentadentate Salten ligand has been shown to have high-spin state (S = 5/2) in a single crystal and polycrystalline phase and contain both high-spin and low-spin (S = 1/2) fractions in vitrified acetonitrile solutions. A correlation between ESR spectrum shape and crystallinity degree has been tracked for polycrystalline phase. The majority of complexes in crystals has been found to form exchange-coupled clusters. The ESR spectra of vitrified solutions have shown several types of high-spin centers and two kinds of low-spin complexes with different g-factors. On the basis of quantum chemical calculations, conclusion was drawn for the most likely structural form of the precursor in single crystal and polycrystalline samples and possible supramolecular associates in frozen solutions.