Di- and Tetrairon(III) μ-Oxido Complexes of an N3S-Donor Ligand: Catalyst Precursors for Alkene Oxidations

The new di- and tetranuclear Fe(III) μ-oxido complexes [Fe 4 (μ-O) 4 (PTEBIA) 4 ](CF 3 SO 3 ) 4 (CH 3 CN) 2 ] (1a), [Fe 2 (μ-O)Cl 2 (PTEBIA) 2 ](CF 3 SO 3 ) 2 (1b), and [Fe 2 (μ-O)(HCOO) 2 (PTEBIA) 2 ](ClO 4 ) 2 (MeOH) (2) were prepared from the sulfur-containing ligand (2-((2,4-dimethylphenyl)thio)-N,N-bis ((1-methyl-benzimidazol-2-yl)methyl)ethanamine (PTEBIA). The tetrairon complex 1a features four μ-oxido bridges, while in dinuclear 1b, the sulfur moiety of the ligand occupies one of the six coordination sites of each Fe(III) ion with a long Fe-S distance of 2.814(6) A. In 2, two Fe(III) centers are bridged by one oxido and two formate units, the latter likely formed by methanol oxidati…