An imido ligand significantly enhances the effective energy barrier of dysprosium() single-molecule magnets

We report herein an imido ligand 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl) imidazolin-2-imine (Im Dipp NH) that can form a very short Dy-N bond (2.12 Å) with the dysprosium( iii ) ion, which leads to a much larger effective energy barrier for magnetisation reversal (803 K) compared to the analogous alkoxide ligand (53 K). Moreover, we predict that a linear two-coordinate [Dy(Im Dipp N) 2 ] + complex may have an effective energy barrier larger than 4000 K. A very basic imido ligand that can strongly bind to the dysprosium( iii ) ion and significantly enhance the effective energy barrier for magnetisation reversal is reported.