Fluxionality Modulating the Magnetic Anisotropy in Lanthanoarene [(ηCnRn)2Ln(II/III)] (n= 4–8) Single-Ion Magnets

Lanthanoarenes have emerged as the best bet for the futuristic application of single-ion magnets in information storage devices. While dysprosocenium molecules with various substituents at the arene ring exhibit a very large blocking temperature, the corresponding Er(III) analogues do not, and this is reversed if the size of the arene ring is eight. Using a combination of ab initio CASSCF and DFT-based molecular dynamics (MD) study, we have explored 25 Dy(III)/Er(III)/Ho(II)/Tb(II)/Dy(II) arene complexes with the ring size varying from 4 to 8 to understand the differences observed and decipher the correlation of structure to the spin dynamics behavior. Among the oxidation state of +2 complexes studied, Tb(II) exhibits the highest barrier, with the Cp–Tb–Cp angle being linear. Further, one of the four-membered arene model studied exhibits a very large barrier of 1442 cm–1, suggesting a potential high-blocking SIM. While bulky substituents at the arene ring help increase the axiality and the CR–Ln–CR angle, this also fetches several agostic C–H···Ln interactions, which injects transverse anisotropy. Furthermore, MD coupled with the CASSCF study reveals that the fluxional behavior of the arene ring generates several rotational conformers that are even accessible at lower temperatures offering a shortcut to the magnetization relaxation process. The importance of structural fluctuations in controlling the magnetic anisotropy by choosing apt metal-ion/ring partners and the corresponding substituents has been highlighted to offer clues to the futuristic SIM design.