Small iron–carbonyl clusters bearing imidazolium-2-trithioperoxycarboxylate ligands†
Abstract
The reaction of [Fe2(CO)9] with two representative imidazolium-2-dithiocarboxylate zwitterions derived from common N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) bearing mesityl (IMes) or 2,6-diisopropylphenyl substituents on their nitrogen atoms (IDip) unexpectedly afforded two small bimetallic iron-carbonyl clusters with the generic formula [Fe2(CO)6(μ-κ2-S,S′-κ2-S,S′-S3C·NHC)]. After a brief optimization of the reaction conditions, these two “sulfur-enriched” products were isolated in low yields. They were fully characterized by IR, NMR, UV/Visible, and ESI-MS techniques, and their molecular structures were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The two compounds adopted a butterfly-type disposition in the solid state, with an [Fe2(CO)6] core bridged by the trithioperoxycarboxylate moiety of the in situ generated NHC·CS3 ligands. Bond lengths recorded for the CS3– unit revealed that its negative charge was mostly located on the remote sulfur atom.