Phosphatase-like Activity of Tetranuclear Iron(III) and Zinc(II) Complexes

Three new tetranuclear iron(III) and zinc(II) complexes, [Fe4(cpdp)2(phth)2(OH)2]·8H2O (1), [Fe4(cpdp)2(terephth)2(OH)2] (2), and [Zn4(Hcpdp)2(suc)]Br2·12H2O (3), have been synthesized as models for the active site of phosphoester hydrolases by utilizing a polydentate ligand, N, N'-bis[2-carboxybenzomethyl]- N, N'-bis[2-pyridylmethyl]-1,3-diaminopropan-2-ol (H3cpdp) in combination with exogeneous phthalate (phth), terephthalate (terephth), and succinate (suc). Single crystal X-ray analyses reveal that the metallic core of complex 1 consists of four distorted octahedral iron(III) ions with average intraligand Fe---Fe separation of 3.656(2) A, while the structure 3 represents a tetranuclear m…