Aromaticity introduced by antiferromagnetic ligand mediated metal-metal interactions. Insights from the induced magnetic response in [Cu-6(dmPz)(6)(OH)(6)]

Abstract

[trans-Cu(mu-OH)(mu-dmpz)](6) (1) exhibits six Cu(II) centers effectively coupled through a ligand mediated mechanism leading to a diamagnetic ground state over a wide temperature range. Here we investigate further magneto-structural correlations based on the possible free electron precession along such a copper-based ring-like nanocoil mediated by bridging ligands. We find that in 1, mediated antiferro-magnetic coupling leads to characteristics that induce aromatic ring behavior through evaluation of both induced currents and shielding of cones from a relativistic density functional theory level. According to our gauge calculations including magnetically induced current densities and an induced magnetic field, a sizable ring current strength susceptibility is obtained for the cyclic Cu-N-N-Cu and Cu-O-Cu pathways, allowing a magnetic exchange between the copper centers. Our study suggests that [Cu-6(dmPz)(6)(OH)(6)] consisting of an aromatic ring structure displays aromaticity and superexchange along the Cu-O-Cu and Cu-N-N-Cu backbones, which accounts for 80% and 20% of the overall ring current strength susceptibility, respectively. This reveals the presence of particular aromatic ring characteristics in coordination compounds without a direct metal-metal bond, where several formally paramagnetic centers are antiferromagnetically-coupled through supporting ligands. We envisage that our findings can be extended to other examples depicting ligand-mediated interaction between metal centers.