Alkali metal-linked triangular building blocks assemble a high-nucleation lanthanoid cluster based on single-molecule magnets

The metallic central magnetic axes in high-nucleation clusters with complex structural connections tend to be disorganized and cancel each other out. Therefore, high-nucleation clusters cannot easily exhibit single-molecule magnets (SMMs) behaviors. Herein, we select a triple-core building block (Dy(3)K(2), 1) and use linked diamagnetic alkali metal to form an open, spherical, high-nucleation cluster Dy(12)Na(6) (3) with SMM behavior. Furthermore, by changing the reaction conditions, Dy(6)K(2) (2) formed by linking two Dy(3) by K(I) is obtained. High-resolution electrospray mass spectrometry of clusters 1–3 effectively captures the building block Dy(3), and clusters 1 and 3 and Dy(3) have high stability even with the increase in ion source energy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that an SMM based on a high-nucleation cluster has been obtained by connecting magnetic primitives via diamagnetic metal ions. Dy(12)K(6) is currently the highest nuclear ns-4f heterometallic SMM.