A Mononuclear Uranium(IV) Single-Molecule Magnet with an Azobenzene Radical Ligand

A tetravalent uranium compound with a radical azobenzene ligand, namely, [{(SiMe2 NPh)3 -tacn}U(IV) (η(2) -N2 Ph2 (.) )] (2), was obtained by one-electron reduction of azobenzene by the trivalent uranium compound [U(III) {(SiMe2 NPh)3 -tacn}] (1). Compound 2 was characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and (1) H NMR, IR, and UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy. The magnetic properties of 2 and precursor 1 were studied by static magnetization and ac susceptibility measurements, which for the former revealed single-molecule magnet behaviour for the first time in a mononuclear U(IV) compound, whereas trivalent uranium compound 1 does not exhibit slow relaxation of the magnetization at low temperatures. A first approximation to the magnetic behaviour of these compounds was attempted by combining an effective electrostatic model with a phenomenological approach using the full single-ion Hamiltonian.