Lanthanide clusters represent an intriguing area of chemistry for applications based on their luminescence and magnetic properties in sensing, medical diagnostics, and elsewhere.

Scott Dalgarno, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, and colleagues have used a calixarene analogue that does not resemble the common vase or bowl shape to construct an unusual lanthanide cluster with three metal centers. The ligand in question is bis(5-tert-butyl-2-hydroxy-3-hydroxymethyl-phenyl)methane and was used to make three isostructural polynuclear Ln₃ chains in which the metal center is one of gadolinium, terbium, or dysprosium. The team found that the Dy analogue has weak ferromagnetism and the class represents a new way to access a large number of novel coordination complexes of the 3d and 3d–4f elements.

• A bis-phenolate for the construction of linear lanthanide trimers,
  Ross McLellan, Maria A. Palacios, Christine M. Beavers, Simon J. Teat, Euan K. Brechin, Scott J. Dalgarno,
  Chem. Commun. 2013.
  DOI: 10.1039/C3CC44996C