Atypically anisotropic and large changes in magnetic susceptibility, along with a change in crystalline shape, were observed in a CoII complex at near room temperature. This was achieved by combining oxalate molecules, acting as rotor, and a CoII ion with unquenched orbital angular momentum. A thermally controlled 90° rotation of the oxalate counter anion triggered a symmetry-breaking ferroelastic phase transition, accompanied by contraction-expansion behavior (ca. 4.5 %) along the long axis of a rod-like single crystal. The molecular rotation induced a minute variation in the coordination geometry around the CoII ion, resulting in an abrupt decrease and a remarkable increase in magnetic susceptibility along the direction perpendicular and parallel to the long axis of the crystal, respectively. Theoretical calculations suggested that such an unusual anisotropic change in magnetic susceptibility was due to a substantial reorientation of magnetic anisotropy induced by slight disruption in the ideal D3 coordination environment of the complex cation.
Keywords: cobalt; magnetic switching; phase transitions; shape change; symmetry breaking.
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