Stacked nickelocenes: synthesis, structural characterization, and magnetic properties

The disubstitution of 1,8-diiodonaphthalene (1) with cyclopentadienyl nucleophiles reveals 1,8-(dicyclopentadienyl)-naphthalene, which rapidly undergoes Diels-Alder reaction forming 1,8-(3a',4',7',7a'-tetrahydro-4',7'-methanoindene-7a',8'-diyl)-naphthalene (2). A subsequent retro-Diels-Alder reaction in the presence of sodium hydride yields the disodium salt of 1,8-(dicyclopentadiendiyl)-naphthalene 3. The disodium salt 3 was the starting material to obtain the paramagnetic bisnickelocene derivative 4, which structure was obtained by X-ray structure analysis, revealing two nickelocenes kept together in a stacked fashion by a 1,8-naphthalene clamp. An electronic interaction between the two nickel atoms is found as a result of cyclic voltammetry, indicating five different oxidation states +4, +3, +2, +1, and 0. The magnetic properties of 4 in solution were studied by variable temperature paramagnetic (1)H NMR spectroscopy and Evans method and revealed Curie behavior between 213 and 293 K. The magnetic susceptibility of a powdered sample of 4 was measured, and an antiferromagnetic interaction with an exchange coupling of J(12) = -31.49 cm(-1) is found. In accord with experimental data, broken symmetry density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed four antiferromagnetically coupled electrons resulting in an open shell singlet ground state.