Aggregation of [Ln] clusters by the dianion of 3-formylsalicylic acid. Synthesis, crystal structures, magnetic and luminescence properties.

Three isostrucutral dodecanuclear clusters with the general formula [Ln(12)(fsa)(12)(mu f(3)-OH)(12)(DMF)(12)]center dot nDMF (fsa(2-) is the dianion of 3-formylsalicylic acid; Ln = Eu 1, Gd 2, Dy 3) have been obtained from the reaction of fromylsalicyclic acid (H(2)fsa), tetrabutylammonium hydroxide and Ln(NO3)(3)center dot 6H(2)O in methanol/DMF. Their structure consists of four vertex-sharing heterocubanes. Each heterocubane unit is assembled from four Ln(III) ions, three mu(3)-OH groups and one mu(3)-oxygen atom arising from the fsa(2-) carboxylato group. The photophysical properties of the europium derivative investigated at both 300 and 80 K sustain a relative intense emission obtained under low power LED excitation at 420 nm. The dysprosium derivative shows a SMM behavior with an effective energy barrier U-eff of 22.9 cm(-1), while the thermodynamical properties of Gd-12 confirm a large magnetocaloric effect: S(7 T) -S(0 T) = 20R = 166 J mol(-1) K), typical for isotropic Gd-III derivatives, with Delta S = S(7 T) - S(0 T) = 1.7R for each Gd-III ion.