Low-Spin Hexacoordinate Mn(III): Synthesis and Spectroscopic Investigation of Homoleptic Tris(pyrazolyl)borate and Tris(carbene)borate Complexes

Three complexes of Mn­(III) with “scorpionate” type ligands have been investigated by a variety of physical techniques. The complexes are [Tp₂Mn]­SbF₆ (<b>1</b>), [Tp₂*Mn]­SbF₆ (<b>2</b>), and [{PhB­(MeIm)₃}₂Mn]­(CF₃SO₃) (<b>3a</b>), where Tp^– = hydrotris­(pyrazolyl)­borate anion, Tp*^– = hydrotris­(3,5-dimethylpyrazolyl)­borate anion, and PhB­(MeIm)₃^– = phenyltris­(3-methylimidazol-2-yl)­borate anion. The crystal structure of <b>3a</b> is reported; the structures of <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> have been previously reported, but were reconfirmed in this work. The synthesis and characterization of [{PhB­(MeIm)₃}₂­Mn]­Cl (<b>3b</b>) are also described. These complexes are of interest in that, in contrast to many hexacoordinate (pseudo-octahedral) complexes of Mn­(III), they exhibit a low-spin (triplet) ground state, rather than the high-spin (quintet) ground state. Solid-state electronic absorption spectroscopy, SQUID magnetometry, and high-frequency and -field electron paramagnetic resonance (HFEPR) spectroscopy were applied. HFEPR, in particular, was useful in characterizing the <i>S</i> = 1 spin Hamiltonian parameters for complex <b>1</b>, <i>D</i> = +19.97(1), <i>E</i> = 0.42(2) cm^–1, and for <b>2</b>, <i>D</i> = +15.89(2), <i>E</i> = 0.04(1) cm^–1. In addition, frequency domain Fourier-transform THz-EPR spectroscopy, using coherent synchrotron radiation, was applied to <b>1</b> only and gave results in good agreement with HFEPR. Variable-temperature dc magnetic susceptibility measurements of <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> were also in good agreement with the HFEPR results. This magnitude of zero-field splitting (zfs) is over 4 times larger than that in comparable hexacoordinate Mn­(III) systems with <i>S</i> = 2 ground states. Complexes <b>3a</b> and <b>3b</b> (i.e., regardless of counteranion) have a yet much larger magnitude zfs, which may be the result of unquenched orbital angular momentum so that the spin Hamiltonian model is not appropriate. The triplet ground state is rationalized in each complex by ligand-field theory (LFT) and by quantum chemistry theory, both density functional theory and unrestricted Hartree–Fock methods. This analysis also shows that spin-crossover behavior is not thermally accessible for these complexes as solids. The donor properties of the three different scorpionate ligands were further characterized using the LFT model that suggests that the tris­(carbene)­borate is a strong σ-donor with little or no π-bonding