Stepwise replacement of nickel with cobalt ions in a [Ni6] cluster

Polydentate ligands were used to support planar methoxo-bridged {Ni6−xCox} (x = 0, 1 or 2) clusters which were structurally characterized by single crystal analyses. The homometallic {Ni6} complex displayed overall ferrimagnetic interactions between metal centres, and increasing the cobalt content led to a proportional increase in ac-response.