Structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of quasi-1D quantum magnets [Ni(HF2)(pyz)2]X (pyz = pyrazine; X = PF6(-), SbF6(-)) exhibiting Ni-FHF-Ni and Ni-pyz-Ni spin interactions

[Ni(HF2)(pyz)2]X {pyz = pyrazine; X = PF6- (1), SbF6- (2)} were structurally characterized by synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and found to possess axially compressed NiN4F2 octahedra. At 298 K, 1 is monoclinic (C2/c) with unit cell parameters, a = 9.9481(3), b = 9.9421(3), c = 12.5953(4) angstrom, and beta = 81.610(3) degrees while 2 is tetragonal (P4/nmm) with a = b = 9.9359(3) and c = 6.4471(2) angstrom and is isomorphic with the Cu-analogue. Infinite one-dimensional (1D) Ni-FHF-Ni chains propagate along the c-axis which are linked via mu-pyz bridges in the ab-plane to afford three-dimensional polymeric frameworks with PF6- and SbF6- counterions occupying the interior sites. A major difference between 1 and 2 is that the Ni-F-H bonds are bent (similar to 157 degrees) in 1 but are linear in 2. Ligand field calculations (LFT) based on an angular overlap model (AOM), with comparison to the electronic absorption spectra, indicate greater pi-donation of the HF2- ligand in 1 owing to the bent Ni-F-H bonds. Magnetic susceptibility data for 1 and 2 exhibit broad maxima at 7.4 and 15 K, respectively, and lambda-like peaks in d chi T/dT at 6.2 and 12.2 K that are ascribed to transitions to long-range antiferromagnetic order (TN). Muon-spin relaxation and specific heat studies confirm these TN's. A comparative analysis of chi vs T to various 1D Heisenberg/Ising models suggests moderate antiferromagnetic interactions, with the primary interaction strength determined to be 3.05/3.42 K (1) and 5.65/6.37 K (2). However, high critical fields of 19 and 37.4 T obtained from low temperature pulsed-field magnetization data indicate that a single exchange constant (J(1D)) alone is insufficient to explain the data and that residual terms in the spin Hamiltonian, which could include interchain magnetic couplings (J(perpendicular)), as mediated by Ni-pyz-Ni, and single-ion anisotropy (D), must be considered. While it is difficult to draw absolute conclusions regarding the magnitude (and sign) of J(perpendicular) and D based solely on powder data, further support offered by related Ni(II)-pyz compounds and our LFT and density-functional theory (DFT) results lead us to a consistent quasi-1D magnetic description for 1 and 2.