LAUSR

Heterodinuclear complexes [Cr(bpy)2(H2O)(μ-O)Ta(C2O4)3]2·3.5H2O (1) and [H2(terpy)][Cr(terpy)(C2O4)(μ-O)Ta(C2O4)3]·0.5H2C2O4·2.5H2O (2) (bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine; terpy = 2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine) have been synthesised through a reaction of a tris(oxalate)oxotantalate(V) anion and a complex chromium(III) cation with corresponding aromatic N-donor ligands. These are the first examples of a Cr–O–Ta bridge in molecular compounds, and the first report of heterodinuclear complexes prepared from a tris(oxalate)oxotantalate(V) anion as a building block. Structural analysis of both compounds revealed that TaV in pentagonal bipyramid geometry is connected through a slightly bent μ-O bridge to CrIII having a distorted octahedral environment. The geometry optimization performed with density functional theory (DFT) calculations gave very good agreement with the experimentally obtained structure of 1. Room temperature solid state UV-Vis spectra were recorded for both compounds and compared to those of starting reagents, in order to test for possible new electronic transitions attributed to the metal-to-metal charge transfer between CrIII and TaV through the oxo-bridge. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy supported with DFT calculations was used to assign vibrational modes to all spectral features, especially those coming from the molecular μ-oxo bridge. Temperature dependence of magnetic properties of 1 and 2 were probed with magnetic susceptibility measurements on a SQUID magnetometer. Additionally, zero-field splitting parameters were determined from electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of compound 1 and experimentally obtained values were confirmed by DFT calculations.