Slow Magnetic Relaxation in a Mononuclear Ruthenium(III) Complex

The development of magnetic molecules with long spin reversal/decoherence times highly depends on the understanding of relaxation behavior under different external conditions. Herein, we present a magnetic study on a Ru(III) complex (1). Detailed analysis of the relaxation time and the magneto-heat capacity data suggests that the resonant phonon trapping process dominates the magnetic relaxation in the crystalline sample of 1 slowing down the spin relaxation rate, as further confirmed by the measurements on ground sample and frozen solution. Thus, it provides a rare example showing that 4d metal-centered mononuclear compounds without second-order anisotropy can display slow magnetic relaxation.