Effect of Transition Metal Substitution on the Charge-Transfer Phase Transition and Ferromagnetism of Dithiooxalato-Bridged Hetero Metal Complexes, (n-C3H7)4N[FeII1−xMnIIxFeIII(dto)3]

The dithiooxalato-bridged iron mixed-valence complex (n-C3H7)4N[FeIIFeIII(dto)3] (dto = dithiooxalato) undergoes a novel charge-transfer phase transition (CTPT) accompanied by electron transfer between adjacent FeII and FeIII sites. The CTPT influences the ferromagnetic transition temperature according to the change of spin configuration on the iron sites. To reveal the mechanism of the CTPT, we have synthesized the series of metal-substituted complexes (n-C3H7)4N[FeII1-xMnIIxFeIII(dto)3] (x = 0–1) and investigated their physical properties by means of magnetic susceptibility and dielectric constant measurements. With increasing MnII concentration, x, MnII-substituted complexes show the disappearance of CTPT above x = 0.04, while the ferromagnetic phase remains in the whole range of x. These results are quite different from the physical properties of the ZnII-substituted complex, (n-C3H7)4N[FeII1-xZnIIxFeIII(dto)3], which is attributed to the difference of ion radius as well as the spin states of MnII and ZnII.