Three ion-pair complexes, [RbzPy]
+[Ni(mnt)
2]
- (mnt
2- = maleonitriledithiolate; [RbzPy]
+ = 4-R-benzylpyridinium;R = Br (
1), Cl (
2), and NO
2 (
3)), with unusual magnetic properties have been synthesized and characterized. Thecrystal structures of
1 and
2 have been solved. The two complexes belong to the
P2
1/
c space group with
Z = 4and C
20H
11BrN
5NiS
4,
a = 12.0744(17) Å,
b = 26.369(4) Å,
c = 7.440(3) Å, and
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
= 102.63(3)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
for
1 and C
20H
11ClN
5NiS
4,
a = 12.105(2) Å,
b = 26.218(4) Å,
c = 7.374(2) Å, and
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
= 102.55(2)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
for
2, respectively. The[Ni(mnt)
2]
- anions in
1-3 form uniformly spaced one-dimensional (1-D) magnetic
chains of
s = 1/2 at roomtemperature. The temperature dependences of the susceptibility for
1-3 show that they undergo phase transitions.All three complexes are paramagnetic in their high-temperature (abbreviation HT) phase and diamagnetic in thelow-temperature (abbreviation LT) phase because of strong dimerization along the stacking direction. The resultsof thermal analysis (DSC) further confirm that the phase transition for
1 and
2 is first-order but maybe second-order for
3. The phenomena observed in this study are similar to those of the 1-D radical systems.