X-ray diffraction and thermomagnetic measurements were made on two chromium(IV)complexes, Cr(dien)(O
2)
2·H
2O and Cr(NH
3)
3(O
2)
2, with the view of understanding how theligands might change the magnetic dimensionality in such compounds. The magneticsusceptibility (
![](/images/gifchars/chi.gif)
(
T)) of Cr(dien)(O
2)
2·H
2O was analyzed according to the quadratic Heisenbergmodel,
H = -2
J
i,j S(i)·
S(j) -
g
H
i Sz(i), which yielded
J010 = -2.71 K,
J100 = -2.86 K,
J001= -2.88 K,
g010 = 1.92,
g001 = 1.96, and
g100 = 1.82, where the indices coincide with alignmentof the crystal axes relative to the magnetic field. The heat capacity (
Cp) and entropy datasupport this analysis and show it to be a layered, two-dimensional antiferromagnet. Incontrast,
![](/images/gifchars/chi.gif)
(
T) and
Cp(
T) measurements on Cr(NH
3)
3(O
2)
2 showed it to be a classical three-dimensional antiferromagnet with sharp
![](/images/gifchars/lambda.gif)
-type transitions at 8.80 and 8.46 K, respectively.Only 38% of the magnetic entropy is removed above
TN = 8.46 K, implying that nominalshort-range interactions occur, but the system is dominated by three-dimensional magneticexchange. The data reveal how the ligand as well as lattice hydration affect the spindimensionality of Cr(IV) compounds.