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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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    Magnetic hysteresis and strong ferromagnetic coupling of sulfur-bridged Dy ions in clusterfullerene Dy2S@C82
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2020) Krylov, Denis; Velkos, Georgios; Chen, Chia-Hsiang; Büchner, Bernd; Kostanyan, Aram; Greber, Thomas; Avdoshenko, Stanislav M.; Popov, Alexey A.
    Two isomers of metallofullerene Dy2S@C82 with sulfur-bridged Dy ions exhibit broad magnetic hysteresis with sharp steps at sub-Kelvin temperature. Analysis of the level crossing events for different orientations of a magnetic field showed that even in powder samples, the hysteresis steps caused by quantum tunneling of magnetization can provide precise information on the strength of intramolecular Dy⋯Dy interactions. A comparison of different methods to determine the energy difference between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic states showed that sub-Kelvin hysteresis gives the most robust and reliable values. The ground state in Dy2S@C82 has ferromagnetic coupling of Dy magnetic moments, whereas the state with antiferromagnetic coupling in Cs and C3v cage isomers is 10.7 and 5.1 cm-1 higher, respectively. The value for the Cs isomer is among the highest found in metallofullerenes and is considerably larger than that reported in non-fullerene dinuclear molecular magnets. Magnetization relaxation times measured in zero magnetic field at sub-Kelvin temperatures tend to level off near 900 and 3200 s in Cs and C3v isomers. These times correspond to the quantum tunneling relaxation mechanism, in which the whole magnetic moment of the Dy2S@C82 molecule flips at once as a single entity. © the Partner Organisations.