ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Photoswitching of a heptanuclear Fe^II-Fe^III complex — A case of multifunctional magnetic materials

Roman Boča and Ivan Šalitroš

Department of Chemistry, University of SS. Cyril and Methodius, Trnava, 917 01, Slovak Republic

E-mail: roman.boca@stuba.sk

Received: 12 December 2007  Revised: 29 April 2008  Accepted: 2 May 2008

Abstract: A heptanuclear mixed-valence complex of the type [{Fe^IIIL⁵(NC)}₆Fe^II] has been synthesised and characterised by analytical methods (L⁵ stands for a pentadentate Schiff-base ligand). Light of different wavelengths was applied inside a SQUID magnetometer at low temperatures and various magnetic fields in order to investigate the response function (magnetisation) depending on temperature, magnetic field, and wavelength. The irradiation with various wavelengths caused a significant decrease of the bulk magnetisation in the present case. In the applied field, photoswitching is a fast and well reproducible process.

Keywords: photomagnetism - photoswitching - multifunctionality - coordination compounds

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-008-0078-z

Chemical Papers 62 (6) 575–579 (2008)