Structural and Magnetization Studies of a New (μ-Oxo)bis(μ-carboxylato)dimanganese(III) Complex with a Terminal Hydroxo Ligand Montserrat Corbella,* Ramon Costa, and Joan Ribas Departament de Quı ´mica Inorga `nica, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal, 647, 08028-Barcelona, Spain Pascal H. Fries,* Jean-Marc Latour, and Lars O 2 hrstro 1 m CEA/De ´partement de Recherche Fondamentale sur la Matie `re Condense ´e, Laboratoire SESAM/CC (URA CNRS 1194), Centre d’Etudes Nucle ´aires de Grenoble. 38054-Grenoble Cedex 9, France Xavier Solans and Vı ´ctor Rodrı ´guez Departament de Cristal.lografia i Dipo `sits Minerals, Universitat de Barcelona, Martı ´ i Franque `s, s/n, 08028-Barcelona, Spain ReceiVed July 27, 1995 X The dinuclear Mn III complex [Mn 2 O(PhCOO) 2 (bpy) 2 (OH)(NO 3 )]H 2 O was prepared by controlled oxidation of manganous nitrate with n-tetrabutylammonium permanganate in the presence of benzoic acid (PhCOOH) and 2,2-bipyridine (bpy). Its structure was determined in a single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiment, and consists of a triply-bridged [Mn 2 (µ-O)(µ-PhCOO) 2 ] 2+ dinuclear core. Each manganese(III) ion bears a chelating bpy and a terminal X anion (X ) OH - or NO 3 - ) completing a distorded octahedral coordination geometry. Although the terminal anions are located in disordered positions, the analysis of bond lengths and steric considerations led us to assign to the complex an asymmetric structure [(bpy)(OH)Mn III (µ-O)(µ-PhCOO) 2 Mn III (bpy)(ONO 2 )]. The product, with a chemical formula C 34 H 29 Mn 2 N 5 O 10 , crystallizes in the monoclinic system, space group C2/c, with a ) 16.607(4) Å, b ) 25.619(6) Å, c ) 9.796(3) Å, ) 100.15(3)°, and Z ) 4. Magnetic studies performed on a series of related compounds have revealed a moderate ferro- or antiferromagnetic interaction and significant zero-field splittings in line with the strong Jahn-Teller distortion of the high spin d 4 manganese(III) ions. In the present work we interpreted the magnetic properties of the complex using a spin Hamiltonian which includes the Heisenberg exchange, axial and rhombic ZFS, and an anisotropic Lande ´ factor, under the assumption of a pseudo- C 2 symmetry of the dinuclear core. In order to determine the anisotropy parameters with enough accuracy, we resorted to variable-temperature variable-field magnetization measurements over the 2-300 K range at fields of 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, and 5 T. The whole set of data was fit with a single set of parameters through diagonalization of the complete spin Hamiltonian. The best fit values J )+1.0(4) cm -1 , D )+4.5(5) cm -1 , E ) 0, g x ) g y ) 1.96, and g z ) 2.00 showed that a ferromagnetic interaction occurs between manganese(III) ions in a compressed octahedral environment. A magnetostructural relationship linking the ferromagnetic behavior of the dinuclear complex to the compression of the Mn(III) coordination sphere (and conversely of the antiferromagnetism to the elongation) is then proposed. It is substantiated by theoretical molecular orbital calculations of the extended Hu ¨ckel type. Introduction In the past two decades manganese has been implicated as an essential cofactor of various enzymatic systems where it can be either an enzyme activator or an essential part of the active site. 1-4 In the latter case various nuclearities have been observed from mononuclear sites as in superoxide dismutase 5 to the tetranuclear site of oxygen evolution in photosystem II. 6 Nevertheless, a growing number of manganese proteins have been shown to possess a dinuclear active site. 7 Some of them are understood to operate at the Mn II Mn II level, 1,7 but in others the function involves a change in the oxidation state of the pair. Manganese catalase 8 is the prototype of these enzymes. The first evidence that it contains a dimanganese unit came from electronic absorption spectroscopy, which showed a spectrum typical of the (µ-oxo)(µ-carboxylato)dimanganese(III) cores. 8a Its active site has been shown to exist under several redox forms Mn II Mn II , Mn II Mn III , Mn III Mn III , and Mn III Mn IV . 8b A low resolution X-ray structure determination of the oxidized Mn III - Mn III protein from Thermus thermopilus has revealed that the two metal ions are 3.6 Å apart. 8c On the other hand, EXAFS X Abstract published in AdVance ACS Abstracts, February 15, 1996. (1) Wieghardt, K. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1989, 28, 1153. (2) Que, L.; True, A. E. Prog. Inorg. Chem. 1990, 38, 97. (3) (a) Vincent, J. B.; Christou, G. AdV. Inorg. Chem. 1989, 33, 197. (b) Christou, G. Acc. Chem. Res. 1989, 22, 328. (4) Pecoraro, V. L., Ed. Manganese Redox Enzymes; VCH Publishers: New York, 1992. (5) (a) Stallings, W. C.; Pattridge, K. A.; Strong, R. K.; Ludwig, M. J. Biol. Chem. 1985, 260, 16424. (b) Parker, M. W.; Blake, C. F. J. Mol. Biol. 1988, 199, 649. (6) Thorp, H. H.; Brudvig, G. W. New J. Chem. 1991, 15, 479. (7) Reczkowski, R. S.; Ash, D. E. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1992, 114, 10992. (8) (a) Kono, Y.; Fridovich, I. J. Biol. Chem. 1983, 258, 6015. (b) Waldo, G. S.; Yu, S.; Penner-Hahn, J. E. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1992, 112, 5869. (c) Barynin, V. V.; Vagin, A. A.; Melik-Adamyan, V. R.; Grebenko, A. I.; Khangulov, S.; Popov, A. N.; Andrianova, M. E.; Vainshtein, B. K. Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 1986, 288, 877. (d) Khangulov, S. V.; Voyevodskaya, N. V.; Barynin, V. V.; Grebenko, A. I.; Melik- Adamyan, V. R. Biofizika 1987, 32, 960. (e) Fronko, R. M.; Penner- Hahn, J. E.; Bender, C. J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1988, 110, 7554. 1857 Inorg. Chem. 1996, 35, 1857-1865 0020-1669/96/1335-1857$12.00/0 © 1996 American Chemical Society