Dendrimers of various generations were synthesized by the divergent method. Starting from various amine cores (G0a, G0b, G0c) the generations were built by reaction of the amine with acrylnitrile followed by hydrogenation with DIBAL-H. Treatment with salicylaldehyde creates a fivefold coordination sphere for iron in the molecular periphery. The resulting multinuclear coordination compounds are investigated by Mossbauer spectroscopy.
The precursor [FeIII(L)Cl] (LH2 = N,N'-bis(2'-hydroxy-3'-X-benzyliden)-1,6-diamino-3-N-hexane) is a high-spin (S = 5/2) complex (with X = -CH3, -O-CH3). This precursor is combined with the bridging unit [SnIV(CN)4] to yield star-shaped pentanuclear clusters, [(L-X-FeIII)4Sn(CN)4]Cl4 57Fe-Mössbauer, 119mSn-Mössbauer, and ESR spectroscopy are used to study our samples. For X = -CH3 the 57Fe-Mössbauer data show a multiple spin transition between iron(III) in the high-spin and low-spin state. Changing the functional group from X = -CH3 to X = -O-CH3 turns the switchability off.