Role of the metal in the bonding and properties of bimetallic complexes involving manganese, iron, and cobalt

J Am Chem Soc. 2014 Feb 5;136(5):1842-55. doi: 10.1021/ja409016w. Epub 2013 Nov 6.

Abstract

A multidentate ligand platform is introduced that enables the isolation of both homo- and heterobimetallic complexes of divalent first-row transition metal ions such as Mn(II), Fe(II), and Co(II). By means of a two-step metalation strategy, five bimetallic coordination complexes were synthesized with the general formula M1M2Cl(py3tren), where py3tren is the triply deprotonated form of N,N,N-tris(2-(2-pyridylamino)ethyl)amine. The metal-metal pairings include dicobalt (1), cobalt-iron (2), cobalt-manganese (3), diiron (4), and iron-manganese (5). The bimetallic complexes have been investigated by X-ray diffraction and X-ray anomalous scattering studies, cyclic voltammetry, magnetometry, Mössbauer spectroscopy, UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, combustion analyses, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, and ab initio quantum chemical methods. Only the diiron chloride complex in this series contains a metal-metal single bond (2.29 Å). The others show weak metal-metal interactions (2.49 to 2.53 Å). The diiron complex is also distinct with a septet ground state, while the other bimetallic species have much lower spin states from S = 0 to S = 1. We propose that the diiron system has delocalized metal-metal bonding electrons, which seems to correlate with a short metal-metal bond and a higher spin state. Multiconfigurational wave function calculations revealed that, indeed, the metal-metal bonding orbitals in the diiron complex are much more delocalized than those of the dicobalt analogue.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Cobalt / chemistry*
  • Coordination Complexes / chemical synthesis*
  • Coordination Complexes / chemistry*
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Iron / chemistry*
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Manganese / chemistry*
  • Models, Chemical*
  • Molecular Structure

Substances

  • Coordination Complexes
  • Cobalt
  • Manganese
  • Iron