Cooperative spin crossover leading to bistable and multi-inert system states in an iron(III) complex.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39183211.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-51675-1 and PMC identifier 11345420.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Cooperativity among spin centres has long been the royal road in spin crossover (SCO) research to impose magnetic bistability in terms of thermal hysteresis. In this work we access magnetic multi-inert states of the iron(III) compound {FeL<sub>2</sub>[B(Ph)<sub>4</sub>]} ≡ FeB at low temperature, in addition to thermal bistability. The packing of the low-spin and high-spin forms of crystalline FeB differs only marginally what ultimately leads to structural conservatism. This indicates that the SCO-immanent breathing of the complex cation is almost fully compensated by the anion matrix. The unique cooling rate dependence of the residual low-temperature magnetisation in FeB unveils continuous switching between the trapped high-spin (ON) and the relaxed low-spin state (OFF). The macroscopic ratio of the spin states (ON:OFF) can be adjusted as a simple function of the cooling rate. That is, cooperative spin crossover can be the source of bistable and multi-inert system states in the very same material.