Slow magnetic relaxation in luminescent mononuclear dysprosium(iii) and erbium(iii) pentanitrate complexes with the same LnO 10 coordination geometry.

Two isostructural mononuclear Dy and Er pentanitrate complexes with an LnO10 coordination geometry have been synthesized and studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, luminescence and magnetic measurements. Slow relaxation of the magnetization behavior is simultaneously observed in two complexes with the same coordination environment, despite the different types of the 4f-shell electron distribution. Meanwhile, both complexes exhibit the respective characteristic Ln(iii) photoluminescence.