Partial Nitrogen Atom Transfer: A New Synthetic Tool to Design Single-Molecule Magnets

Incomplete nitrogen atom transfer from the iron­(IV) nitride complex PhB­(MesIm)3­FeN to the vanadium­(III) complex V­(Mes)3(THF) quantitatively provides the bimetallic complex PhB­(MesIm)3­Fe-NV­(Mes)3. Structural and spectroscopic characterizations reveal that the nitride ligand forms a linear bridge between V­(V) and high-spin Fe­(II) metal ions, confirming that atom transfer is accompanied by electron transfer. In the presence of an applied dc field, the complex displays slow relaxation of the magnetization, revealing its single-molecule magnet properties with an estimation of the energy barrier at about 10 K. This complex establishes a synthetic principle for the assembly of paramagnetic complexes bridged by nitride ligands.