Reaction of nickel(II) acetate with H
3L (2-(5-bromo-2-hydroxyphenyl)-1,3-bis[4-(5-bromo-2-hydroxyphenyl)-3-azabut-3-enyl]-1,3-imidazolidine) yields [Ni
2L(OAc)(H
2O)
2]·3MeCN·2H
2O (
1·3MeCN·2H
2O), crystallographically characterized.
1 is unstable in solution for a long time and hydrolyzes to give [Ni
2L(
o-OC
6H
3BrCHO)(H
2O)]·2.25MeCN·H
2O (
2·2.25MeCN·H
2O). In addition,
1 uptakes CO
2 from air in a basic methanol/acetonitrile solution, yielding {[Ni
2L(MeOH)]
2(CO
3)}·1.5MeOH·MeCN·H
2O (
3·1.5MeOH·MeCN·H
2O). The X-ray characterization of
3 reveals that it isa tetranuclear nickel cluster, which can be considered as the result of a self-assembly process from two dinuclear[Ni
2L]
+ blocks, joined by a
4-
2:
2-O,O carbonate ligand. The coordination mode of the carbonate anion is highlyunusual and, to the best of our knowledge, it has not been described thus far for first-row transition metal complexesor magnetically studied until now. Magnetic characterization of
1 and
3 shows net intramolecular ferromagneticcoupling between the metal atoms in both cases, with
S = 2 and
S = 4 ground states for
1 and
3, respectively.