New family of ferric spin clusters incorporating redox-active ortho-dioxolene ligands

Abstract

Seven new di-, tri-, tetra-, and hexanuclear iron complexes that incorporate a polydentate Schiff base and variously substituted catecholate ligands have been synthesized from the trinuclear precursor [Fe 3(OAc)3(L)3] (1), where LH2 = 2-[[(2-hydroxyethyl)imino]phenylmethyl]-phenol. These were isolated as the compounds [Fe3(OAc)(Cat)(L)3] (2), [Fe6(OAc) 2(Cat)4(L)4] (3), [Fe4(3,5-DBCat) 2(L)4] (4), [Bu4N][Fe4(OAc)(3,5- DBCat)4(L)2] (5a, 5- is the complex monoanion [Fe4(OAc)(3,5-DBCat)4(L)2n, [Fe 4(OAc)(3,5-DBCat)3(3,5-DBSQ)(L)2] (6), [Fe 2(CI4Cat)2(L)(LH2)(H2O)] (7), and [Et3NH]2[Fe2(CI4Cat) 2(L)2] (8a, 82 is the complex dianion [Fe 2(CI4Cat)2(L)2]2-), where CatH2 = catechol; 3,5-DBCatH2 = 3,..