This website uses cookies to give you the best user experience. If you continue
without changing your settings we'll assume you are happy to receive all RSC cookies.
You can change your cookie settings by navigating to our Privacy and Cookies page and following the instructions. These instructions
are also obtainable from the privacy link at the bottom of any RSC page.
Three diiron complexes bearing an aromatic ring as mimics of the diiron subunit of [FeFe]-hydrogenase: synthesis, electron transfer and coupled chemical reactions
Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China
E-mail: xiaoming.liu@ncu.edu.cn
; Tel: +86 (0)573 83643937
b
College of Biological, Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314001, China
E-mail: xiaoming.liu@mail.zjxu.edu.cn
; Tel: +86 (0)573 83643937
Dalton Trans., 2012,41, 11125-11133
DOI:
10.1039/C2DT31083J
Received
19 May 2012,
Accepted
13 Jul 2012
First published online
16 Jul 2012
Three diiron complexes (1-Ph, 2-OH, and 3-OCOFc) as mimics of the diiron subunit of [FeFe]-hydrogenase were electrochemically investigated in 0.1 mol L−1 [NBut4]BF4–acetonitrile (MeCN) under CO and Ar atmosphere. Complex 3-OCOFc was prepared from the reaction of complex 2-OH with ferrocenylacyl chloride (FcOCCl). The complex was fully characterised using a variety of spectroscopic techniques. Its structure was established using X-ray single crystal diffraction analysis. In addition to the well-established ECE (E for electrochemical and C for chemical) mechanism, it was revealed that a further reversible reduction at a potential more negative by ca. 600 mV was observed under CO atmosphere. It was further proposed based on the analysis of electrochemical and infrared spectroscopic data that the second redox was due to a two-electron process of supposedly a tetrairon cluster. This product was formed in situ from the reaction between the dianion generated from the ECE process and its parent complex (1-Ph, 2-OH, and 3-OCOFc) and is supposedly of a core “Fe4(II)”. This reaction occurred only when CO was presented. Under Ar atmosphere, bulk electrolysis led to fully-reduced products, that is, with the iron at the oxidation state of zero, but complex 2-OH was an exception. An overall mechanism to describe the electron transfer and coupled chemical reactions under CO atmosphere was proposed.
Fetching data from CrossRef. This may take some time to load.