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    Covalency versus magnetic axiality in Nd molecular magnets: Nd-photoluminescence, strong ligand-field, and unprecedented nephelauxetic effect in fullerenes NdM2N@C80 (M = Sc, Lu, Y)
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2023) Yang, Wei; Rosenkranz, Marco; Velkos, Georgios; Ziegs, Frank; Dubrovin, Vasilii; Schiemenz, Sandra; Spree, Lukas; de Souza Barbosa, Matheus Felipe; Guillemard, Charles; Valvidares, Manuel; Büchner, Bernd; Liu, Fupin; Avdoshenko, Stanislav M.; Popov, Alexey A.
    Nd-based nitride clusterfullerenes NdM2N@C80 with rare-earth metals of different sizes (M = Sc, Y, Lu) were synthesized to elucidate the influence of the cluster composition, shape and internal strain on the structural and magnetic properties. Single crystal X-ray diffraction revealed a very short Nd-N bond length in NdSc2N@C80. For Lu and Y analogs, the further shortening of the Nd-N bond and pyramidalization of the NdM2N cluster are predicted by DFT calculations as a result of the increased cluster size and a strain caused by the limited size of the fullerene cage. The short distance between Nd and nitride ions leads to a very large ligand-field splitting of Nd3+ of 1100-1200 cm−1, while the variation of the NdM2N cluster composition and concomitant internal strain results in the noticeable modulation of the splitting, which could be directly assessed from the well-resolved fine structure in the Nd-based photoluminescence spectra of NdM2N@C80 clusterfullerenes. Photoluminescence measurements also revealed an unprecedentedly strong nephelauxetic effect, pointing to a high degree of covalency. The latter appears detrimental to the magnetic axiality despite the strong ligand field. As a result, the ground magnetic state has considerable transversal components of the pseudospin g-tensor, and the slow magnetic relaxation of NdSc2N@C80 could be observed by AC magnetometry only in the presence of a magnetic field. A combination of the well-resolved magneto-optical states and slow relaxation of magnetization suggests that Nd clusterfullerenes can be useful building blocks for magneto-photonic quantum technologies.
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    Metallofullerene photoswitches driven by photoinduced fullerene-to-metal electron transfer
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2021) Zalibera, Michal; Ziegs, Frank; Schiemenz, Sandra; Dubrovin, Vasilii; Lubitz, Wolfgang; Savitsky, Anton; Deng, Shihu H.M.; Wang, Xue-Bin; Advoshenko, Stanislav M.; Popov, Alexey A.
    We report on the discovery and detailed exploration of the unconventional photo-switching mechanism in metallofullerenes, in which the energy of the photon absorbed by the carbon cage π-system is transformed to mechanical motion of the endohedral cluster accompanied by accumulation of spin density on the metal atoms. Comprehensive photophysical and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies augmented by theoretical modelling are performed to address the phenomenon of the light-induced photo-switching and triplet state spin dynamics in a series of YxSc3−xN@C80 (x = 0–3) nitride clusterfullerenes. Variable temperature and time-resolved photoluminescence studies revealed a strong dependence of their photophysical properties on the number of Sc atoms in the cluster. All molecules in the series exhibit temperature-dependent luminescence assigned to the near-infrared thermally-activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and phosphorescence. The emission wavelengths and Stokes shift increase systematically with the number of Sc atoms in the endohedral cluster, whereas the triplet state lifetime and S1–T1 gap decrease in this row. For Sc3N@C80, we also applied photoelectron spectroscopy to obtain the triplet state energy as well as the electron affinity. Spin distribution and dynamics in the triplet states are then studied by light-induced pulsed EPR and ENDOR spectroscopies. The spin–lattice relaxation times and triplet state lifetimes are determined from the temporal evolution of the electron spin echo after the laser pulse. Well resolved ENDOR spectra of triplets with a rich structure caused by the hyperfine and quadrupolar interactions with 14N, 45Sc, and 89Y nuclear spins are obtained. The systematic increase of the metal contribution to the triplet spin density from Y3N to Sc3N found in the ENDOR study points to a substantial fullerene-to-metal charge transfer in the excited state. These experimental results are rationalized with the help of ground-state and time-dependent DFT calculations, which revealed a substantial variation of the endohedral cluster position in the photoexcited states driven by the predisposition of Sc atoms to maximize their spin population.
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    Using internal strain and mass to modulate Dy⋯Dy coupling and relaxation of magnetization in heterobimetallic metallofullerenes DyM2N@C80 and Dy2MN@C80 (M = Sc, Y, La, Lu)
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2022) Hao, Yajuan; Velkos, Georgios; Schiemenz, Sandra; Rosenkranz, Marco; Wang, Yaofeng; Büchner, Bernd; Avdoshenko, Stanislav M.; Popov, Alexey A.; Liu, Fupin
    Endohedral clusters inside metallofullerenes experience considerable inner strain when the size of the hosting cage is comparably small. This strain can be tuned in mixed-metal metallofullerenes by combining metals of different sizes. Here we demonstrate that the internal strain and mass can be used as variables to control Dy⋯Dy coupling and relaxation of magnetization in Dy-metallofullerenes. Mixed-metal nitride clusterfullerenes DyxY3−xN@Ih-C80 (x = 0-3) and Dy2LaN@Ih-C80 combining Dy with diamagnetic rare-earth elements, Y and La, were synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, SQUID magnetometry, ab initio calculations, and spectroscopic techniques. DyxY3−xN clusters showed a planar structure, but the slightly larger size of Dy3+ in comparison with that of Y3+ resulted in increased elongation of the nitrogen thermal ellipsoid, showing enhancement of the out-of-plane vibrational amplitude. When Dy was combined with larger La, the Dy2LaN cluster appeared strongly pyramidal with the distance between two nitrogen sites of 1.15(1) Å, whereas DyLa2N@C80 could not be obtained in a separable yield. Magnetic studies revealed that the relaxation of magnetization and blocking temperature of magnetization in the DyM2N@C80 series (M = Sc, Y, Lu) correlated with the mass of M, with DySc2N@C80 showing the fastest and DyLu2N@C80 the slowest relaxation. Ab initio calculations predicted very similar g-tensors for Dy3+ ground state pseudospin in all studied DyM2N@C80 molecules, suggesting that the variation in relaxation is caused by different vibrational spectra of these compounds. In the Dy2MN@C80 series (M = Sc, Y, La, Lu), the magnetic and hysteretic behavior was found to correlate with Dy⋯Dy coupling, which in turn appears to depend on the size of M3+. Across the Dy2MN@C80 series, the energy difference between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic states changes from 5.6 cm−1 in Dy2ScN@C80 to 3.0 cm−1 in Dy2LuN@C80, 1.0 cm−1 in Dy2YN@C80, and −0.8 cm−1 in Dy2LaN@C80. The coupling of Dy ions suppresses the zero-field quantum tunnelling of magnetization but opens new relaxation channels, making the relaxation rate dependent on the coupling strengths. DyY2N@C80 and Dy2YN@C80 were found to be non-luminescent, while the luminescence reported for DyY2N@C80 was caused by traces of Y3N@C80 and Y2ScN@C80