Anionic NaCl-type frameworks of [MnII(HCOO)3-], templated by alkylammonium, exhibit weak ferromagnetism

We present the synthesis, characterization by IR, TGA, single crystal X-ray structure and magnetic properties of a novel series of NaCl-type frameworks of [AmineH(+)][Mn(HCOO)(3)(-)], templated by alkylammonium. The anionic NaCl-framework of [Mn(HCOO)(3)(-)] is counter-balanced by the alkylammonium cations located in the cavities of the framework to which they are hydrogen-bonded. The divalent manganese ions have octahedral geometry and are bridged by the formate in an anti-anti mode of coordination. All the compounds exhibit long-range antiferromagnetism below 9 K with a slight non-collinear arrangement of the moments. The canting, likely due to second-order spin-orbit coupling, is via a Dzyaloshinski-Moriya antisymmetric exchange mechanism. A spin-flop is observed in each case at fairly low fields. An orthorhombic to monoclinic transformation was observed for the protonated cyclotrimethyleneamine that is accompanied by localization of the cations into two positions below 240 K from the rapid dynamic flipping of the ring observed at room temperature.