Constructing CrIII-centered heterometallic complexes: [NiII6CrIII] and [CoII6CrIII] wheelsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. CCDC 1582427-1582428. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c7dt04043a

The solvothermal reaction between Cr(acac) 3 , MCl 2 ·6H 2 O (M = Ni, Co) and 2-hydroxy-4-methyl-6-phenyl-pyridine-3-amidoxime (H 2 L), under basic conditions, led to the synthesis of the heterometallic heptanuclear clusters [M II 6 Cr(HL zw ) 6 (HL) 6 ]·3Cl (M = Ni, 1 ; Co, 2 ), with the nickel analogue displaying an S = 9/2 spin ground-state. The syntheses, structures and magnetic properties of two Cr III -centered wheels, [M II 6 Cr III ] (M = Ni, Co), are reported.