Three new heterospin complexes derived from
trans-oxamido-bridged copper(II) binuclear units [Cu
2(oxen), oxen=
N,
N-bis(2-aminoethyl)oxamide] and pyridine-substituted nitronyl nitroxides (
o-,
m-, and
p-PYNN) were synthesizedand characterized structurally and magnetically. Complexes
1 and
2 are four-spin complexes. Interestingly, it isfound that in complex
3, the Cu(II) ions and
m-PYNN units are arranged to form 1D double-stranded helical chains,which to the best of our knowledge is the first example of a metal nitronyl nitroxide complex with such a 1D helicalstructure. The temperature dependencies of the magnetic susceptibilities of
1 and
2 were fitted to the four-spinmodel with the Hamiltonian
![](/images/entities/Hcirc.gif)
= -2
J
Cu1
Cu2 - 2
j(
Cu1
rad1 -
Cu2
rad2), leading to
J = -150.5 cm
-1 and
j = 47.2cm
-1 for complex
1 and
J = -191.7 cm
-1 and
j = -18.9 cm
-1 for complex
2. The temperature dependence ofthe magnetic susceptibility of complex
3 was approximately simulated with a simple model composed of a dimerof Cu(II) ions and two
m-PYNN molecules. The best fitting leads to the values of
J = -183.0 cm
-1 and
zJ' =-0.55 cm
-1 for the magnetic exchange of two Cu(II) ions through the oxamide bridge and that between the dimerof Cu(II) ions and two
m-PYNN molecules, respectively. The antiferromagnetic exchange of oxamido-bridged Cu(II)ions in complexes
1-
3 is strong. The strength of such antiferromagnetic interactions is also similar for the threecomplexes.