The synthesis and the
structure of the new potentially heptadentate ligand 1,3-bis-(3-oxo-3-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-propionyl)-2-methoxybenzene (
H5L) is described. The reaction in pyridine or DMF of this ligand with various M(AcO)
2salts (M = Ni
II, Co
II, Mn
II) leads to very different products depending on the metal. Thus, the dinuclear complexes[M
2(H
3L)
2(py)
4] (M = Ni
II,
1; Co
II,
2) or the linear zigzag tetranuclear clusters [Mn
4(H
2L)
2(AcO)
2(py)
5] (
3) and [Mn
4(H
2L)
2(AcO)
2(dmf)
4] (
4) have been synthesized and characterized crystallographically. Slow oxidation of complex
3leads to the formation of the novel mixed-valence linear complex [Mn
3(HL)
2(py)
6] (
5), displaying an unprecedentedasymmetric Mn
IIIMn
IIIMn
II topology. The coordination geometry of complexes
1 to
5 has been analyzed and discussedby means of continuous shape measures. Magnetic measurements of
3 and
5 demonstrate that the metals withinthese complexes weakly interact magnetically with coupling constants of
J1 = -1.13 cm
-1 and
J2 = -0.43 cm
-1(
S = 0) for complex
3 and
J1 = -5.4 cm
-1 and
J2 = -0.4 cm
-1 (
S =
5/
2) for complex
5 (using the
H = -
2
JijSiSjconvention). These results are consistent with X-band EPR measurements on these compounds.