Electron-density studies of magnetic di-nuclear complexes
Résumé
In the aim to rationalise the conception of single molecular magnets the first step is to explore the interactions in molecular magnetic complexes and to understand their role. To this end we modeled the experimental electron density distributions in di-nuclear complexes. For example, we studied a cobalt(II) compound ([Co2(sym-hmp)2](BPh4)2) which was theoretically studied by Tone et al. in 2007[1]. When decreasing the temperature, the magnetic susceptibility of this complex deviates from the Curie law (Fig. 1) because of the anti-ferromagnetic
exchange interaction, but the susceptibility increases sharply at low temperature (< 20K). The theoretical analysis of Tone et al. showed that this behavior is explained by a tilt of local distortion axes around cobalt atoms and not by a paramagnetic impurity. A polarized neutron diffraction experiment was carried out in order to model the spin density and verify this hypothesis (Borta et al. (2011), accepted in Phys. Rev. B.)
To support this electronical approach and to better describe the metal-ligand interactions, we determined the charge density of this complex using high resolution X-ray diffraction at 100 K. We will present our multipolar model[2] and its description using various tools
(Fig. 2). The different interactions will be described and comparison will be made with spin density results from polarized neutron diffraction
experiments. We will finally introduce our project of a new program for joint refinements of a unique electronic model based on X-rays and
polarized neutrons diffraction data.