Tetrahedral μ4-chloride and in situ generated octahedral μ6-sulfide templating Co8 complexes with different distortions of the cube

Abstract

Herein two unprecedented octanuclear Co₈ clusters are presented, [Cl@Co₈ (TEOA)₄(CH₃CN)Cl₃] (1) and [S@Co₈(DEOA)₆(NCS)₂] (2) (H₃TEOA = triethanolamine, H₂DEOA = diethanolamine), in which tetrahedral μ₄-chloride and in situ generated octahedral μ₆-sulfide are used as templates. In spite of them being derivatives of cubes, eight Co atoms in 1 consist of two co-centered tetrahedra of different sizes, whereas in 2 they appear as a rhombohedron formed via elongating a cube along the C₃-axis direction. Strong intra-cluster antiferromagnetic interactions were found.