Design and synthesis of a new family of the decanuclear Mn−Ln clusters: A novel approach to nonlinear optical molecular functional materials

Abstract

For the first time, the {Mn5Ln5} (Ln = Sm (1), Eu (2), Gd (3), Dy (4) and Tb (5)) clusters were synthesized via a one-pot approach utilizing 2-amino-2-methyl-1.3-propanediol as the ligand. The clusters were well-characterized with Single-crystal X-ray diffraction, Powder X-ray diffraction and Fourier Transform Infrared spectra. Magnetic measurements revealed that the compounds 3 and 4 show weak ferromagnetic interactions. Besides, the {Mn5Sm5} film display prominent nonlinear optical performances with the large β of 1.28 × 10−7 m W−1, which indicates a great potential in optical limiting applications. Thus, the discovery of {Mn5Ln5} should open up new avenues for the design of NLO molecular functional materials by using 3 d and/or 4f metal cations.