Slow magnetic relaxation and photoluminescence behaviors of dilanthanide complexes bearing N8O2 donor macrocyclic ligand

On account of the complicated magnetic exchange interactions between lanthanide ions, binuclear lanthanide complexes have broad application prospect in the field of single-molecule magnets. Therefore, it is necessary to develop reasonable bridging ligands to manipulate the directional assembly of binuclear lanthanide complexes. Herein, we selected the macrocyclic ligand LN8O2 to build up two new dilanthanide complexes [Ln2(LN8O2)(OpyO)2(H2O)2](NO3)2 (1-Ln, Ln = Dy, Tb; LN8O2 = hexamethyl-tetraaza-dioxe-dipyrazolacycloicosaphane-2,9,12,19-tetraene; OpyOH = 2-pyridinol-1-oxide). Dynamic magnetic studies show that 1-Dy exhibits slow relaxation behavior under a 1 kOe applied field. Further fitting analysis of relaxation times gives the effective energy barrier of 38.2 cm−1, and reveals that the slow magnetic relaxation behavior is dominated by the Orbach and Raman processes. High-resolution luminescence emission spectrum indicates the energy gap of 36.8 cm−1 between the ground state and the first excited state, consistent with the magnetic measurement results. 1-Tb exhibits brilliant characteristic green light emission under UV light excitation. The absolute quantum yield of 1-Tb is 44.8%, and its first-order fitted decay lifetime is 779.21 μs at room temperature. This study provides the way for directional construction of high-performance molecular materials with magnetic and optical dual-function.