Structural−Electronic Correlation in the First-Order Phase Transition of [FeH2L2-Me](ClO4)2 (H2L2-Me = Bis[((2-methylimidazol-4-yl)methylidene)-3- aminopropyl]ethylenediamine)

The synthesis and detailed study of the new mononuclear spin crossover complex [FeIIH2L2-Me](ClO4)2 (where H2L2-Me = bis[((2-methylimidazol-4-yl)methylidene)-3-aminopropyl]ethylenediamine) are reported. Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements show the occurrence of a steep spin crossover centered at 171.5 K with a hysteresis loop of ca. 5 K width ( =174 K and = 169 K, for increasing and decreasing temperatures, respectively). The crystal structure has been resolved for the high-spin (HS) and low-spin (LS) states at 200 and 123 K, respectively, revealing a crystallographic phase transition that occurs concomitantly to the spin crossover: at 200 K, the complex crystallizes in the monoclinic system, space group P21/n, while the space group is P21 at 123 K. The mean Fe−N distances are shortened by 0.2 Å, but the thermal spin crossover is accompanied by significant structural changes: the rearrangement of the central atom C12 of a six-membered chelate ring of [FeIIH2L2-Me]2+ to two positions (C12A and C12B) and, consequently, the lack of an inversion center at 123 K (P21 space group). Both HS and LS supramolecular structures involve all possible hydrogen bonds between imidazole and amine NH functions, and perchlorate anions; however, the HS supramolecular structure is a one-dimensional (1D) network, and the LS phase may better be described as a two-dimensional (2D) extended structure of A and B molecules. The structural phase transition of [FeH2L2-Me](ClO4)2 seems to trigger the steep and hysteretic spin crossover. Discontinuities in the temperature dependence of the Mössbauer parameters (isomer shift and quadrupole splitting) at the spin crossover temperature confirmed the occurrence of a structural phase transition. The experimental enthalpy and entropy variations were determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) as 7.5 ± 0.4 kJ/mol and 45 ± 3 J K-1 mol-1, respectively. The regular solution theory was applied to the experimental data, yielding an interaction parameter of Γ = 3.36 kJ/mol, which is larger than 2RT 1/2, which fulfills the condition for observing hysteresis.