Self-Assembly of a Dodecanuclear [Ni12] Wheel.

Self-assembly of nickle acetate and N,N'-di[1-(2-hydroxyphenyl)- ethylidene]hydrazone (H2L) ligand in a 2:1 ratio in DMF and methanol afforded a dodecanuclear wheel-like coordination cluster: [Ni12L6(OAc)6 (HCOO) 6(DMF)6]•4DMF•5H2O (1), in which the formate ions were likely in situ originated from the oxidation of methanol molecules and each deprotonate ligand (L2-) adopting the μ4-η²,η¹,η¹,η² coordination mode with a large C=N_ N=C torsion angle of 94.1° ligates four different Ni(II) ions. Magnetic study revealed that 1 showed the long-range antiferromagnetic order with the Neer temperature of 9.0 K while the intracluster interaction between the neighboring Ni centers is alternately ferro- and antiferromagnetic (J= +5.0/ -9.2 K in the one J), mainly depending on the oxo-bridging angles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]