LAUSR

A β-diketonate mononuclear dysprosium compound, [Dy(DBM)2(bpy)(CH3OH)2]·Cl− (1) (DBM = dibenzoylmethane, bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine), has been prepared and structurally and magnetically characterized. The metal centers in 1 adopt an approximately square-antiprismatic (SAP) coordination environment with D4d axial symmetry. Magnetic investigations unveil that 1 displays slow magnetic relaxation of SMM behavior with an effective barrier (Ueff) of 25.13 K under a zero dc field as well as 68.30 K in the presence of a 1200 Oe dc field. The comparative studies of some known Dy(III)-based SIMs with DBM ligands show that the energy barriers can be significantly tuned by adjusting the distortion of the SAP configuration on DyIII ions. Ab initio calculations demonstrate that relaxation of the magnetization for 1 mainly takes place via the first excited-state Kramers doublet through Orbach, Raman, and thermally assisted quantum-tunnelling mechanisms.