Synthesis, structure, spectroscopic and magnetic characterization of a novel spin-crossover iron(II) complex with 1-cyclopropyltetrazole ligands

For the first time a 1-cyclopropyl substituted tetrazole (C₃tz) has been used as a potential ligand for iron(II) spin-transition complexes. The complexation of 1-cyclopropyltetrazol with iron(II) tetrafluoroborate yielded a fine powdered product of [Fe(C₃tz)₆](BF₄)₂ being poorly soluble in most common solvents. Single crystals of complex were grown in situ from a solution of ligand and iron(II) hexafluorophosphate, which yielded a hexagonal prismatic crystalline product of [Fe(C₃tz)₆](PF₆)₂. A comparison of XRPD data of the homologues [Fe(C₃tz)₆](BF₄)₂ and [Fe(C₃tz)₆](PF₆)₂ proves them to be homeotypic. The thermally induced spin-crossover phenomenon of [Fe(C₃tz)₆](BF₄)₂ complex shows very abrupt spin transitions, with a spin-crossover temperature T_1/2 ≈ 180 K which is found to be ≈50 K above the T_1/2 of all known iron(II) complexes with n-alkyltetrazoles as ligands. The T_1/2 was determined by temperature-dependent ⁵⁷Fe-Mössbauer, far FT-IR and UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy as well as temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility measurements (SQUID).