Magnetic Anisotropy of Dysprosium(III) in a Low-Symmetry Environment: A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation.

A mixed theoretical and experimental approach was used to determine the local magnetic anisotropy of the dysprosium(III) ion in a low-symmetry environment. The susceptibility tensor of the monomeric species having the formula [Dy(hfac)(3)(NIT-C6H4-OEt)(2)], which contains nitronyl nitroxide (NIT-R) radicals, was determined at various temperatures through angle-resolved magnetometry. These results are in agreement with ab initio calculations performed using the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method, validating the predictive power of this theoretical approach for complex systems containing rare-earth ions, even in low-symmetry environments. Susceptibility measurements performed with the applied field along the easy axis eventually permitted a detailed analysis of the temperature and field dependence of the magnetization, providing evidence that the Dy ion transmits an antiferromagnetic interaction between radicals but that the Dy-radical interaction is ferromagnetic.