Bonding coordination requirements induce antiferromagnetic coupling between m-phenylene bridged o-iminosemiquinonato diradicals

Triply bridged bis-iminodioxolene dinuclear metal complexes of general formula M-2(diox-diox)(3), with M = Co, Fe, have been synthesized using the bis-bidentate ligand N,N'-bis(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)-1,3-phenylenediamine. These complexes were characterized by means of X-ray, HF-EPR, and magnetic measurements. X-ray structures clearly show that both complexes can be described as containing three bis-iminosemiquinonato ligands acting in a bis-bidentate manner toward tripositive metal ions. The magnetic data show that both of these complexes have singlet ground states. The observed experimental behavior indicates the existence of intraligand antiferromagnetic interactions between the three pairs of m-phenylene units linked iminosemiquinonato radicals (J = 21 cm(-1) for the cobalt complex and J = 11 cm(-1) for the iron one). It is here suggested that the conditions for the ferromagnetic coupling that is expected to characterize the free diradical ligand are no longer satisfied because of the severe torsional distortion induced by the metal coordination.