The use of phosphonic acids in the synthesis of mixed-metal CeMn complexes has led to the formation of two phosphonate complexes with unusual topologies: [Ce(2)Mn(6)O(6)(OH)(5)(t-BuPO(3))(6)(O(2)CMe)(3)] x 53 H(2)O (1 x 53 H(2)O) and [Ce(22)Mn(12)O(34)(MePO(3))(12)(O(2)CMe)(33)(OMe)(6)(NO(3))(H(2)O)(12)](n) (2). The two mixed-metal CeMn complexes were both prepared from a reaction system containing Mn(O(2)CMe)(2) and (NH(4))(2)[Ce(NO(3))(6)] with similar procedures except for using different phosphonic acids (tert-butylphosphonic acid and methylphosphonic acid, respectively) as coligands. Both complexes possess rare topology of triangular type, with compound 1 being a 0D discrete cluster, whereas, compound 2 is a 1D polymer. The octanuclear core of complex 1 is composed of three symmetry equivalent distorted cubanes {Ce(IV)(2)Mn(IV)(2)O(2)(OH)(2)} sharing a trigonal-bipyramidal unit {Ce(IV)(2)(OH)(3)} in the centre. Compound 2 is a one-dimensional chain polymer of identical Ce(22)Mn(12)O(34) units linked together by NO(3)(-) and MeCO(2)(-) groups, while the Ce(22)Mn(12)O(34) unit is constituted by two centrosymmetric Ce(9)(IV)Ce(2)(III)Mn(IV)(6)O(17) subunits, which features three identical distorted cubanes {Ce(IV)(2)Mn(IV)(2)O(4)} connecting to a central trigonal-bipyramidal unit {Ce(IV)(3)O(2)}, and two additional Ce(III) ions capping the top and bottom of the central trigonal bipyramid by six MePO(3)(2-) ligands. Complexes 1 and 2 are the first high-nuclearity Mn/Ln aggregates reported to date using phosphonates as ligands. Magnetic susceptibility measurements reveal that compound 1 displays dominant ferromagnetic interactions between the adjacent metal ions with the best fit parameters for the exchanges are J(1) = 6.186 cm(-1), J(2) = 4.172 cm(-1), and with a result of S = 9 ground state confirmed by the M versus HT(-1) data, which indicates the spins of all the six Mn(IV) ions in the cluster are parallel to each other. In contrast, the data for 2 reveals overall antiferromagnetic couplings within the cluster and a resulting S = 6 ground state. Both the in-phase signal chi'(M)T and out-of-phase signal chi''(M) of the two complexes exhibit frequency-dependent below approximate 3 K.

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