Hydrogen-atom and oxygen-atom transfer reactivities of iron(iv)-oxo complexes of quinoline-substituted pentadentate ligands

A series of iron(II) complexes with the general formula [FeII(L2-Qn)(L)]n+ (n = 1, L = F−, Cl−; n = 2, L = NCMe, H2O) have been isolated and characterized. The X-ray crystallographic data reveals that metal–ligand bond distances vary with varying ligand field strengths of the sixth ligand. While the complexes with fluoride, chloride and water as axial ligand are high spin, the acetonitrile-coordinated complex is in a mixed spin state. The steric bulk of the quinoline moieties forces the axial ligands to deviate from the Fe–Naxial axis. A higher deviation/tilt is noted for the high spin complexes, while the acetonitrile coordinated complex displays least deviation. This deviation from linear…