The nonheme iron(IV)-oxido complex trans-N3-[(L 1 ) Fe IV = O(Cl)] + , where L 1 is a derivative of the tetradentate bispidine 2,4-di(pyridine-2-yl)-3,7-diazabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane-1one, is known to have an S = 1 electronic ground state and to be an extremely reactive oxidant for oxygen atom transfer (OAT) and hydrogen atom abstraction (HAA) processes. Here we show that, in spite of this ferryl oxidant having the "wrong" spin ground state, it is the most reactive nonheme iron model system known so far and of a similar order of reactivity as nonheme iron enzymes (CÀ H abstraction of cyclohexane, À 90°C (propionitrile), t 1/2 = 3.5 sec). Discussed are spectroscopic and kinetic data, supported by a DFT-based theoretical analysis, which indicate that substrate oxidation is significantly faster than self-decay processes due to an intramolecular demethylation pathway and formation of an oxido-bridged diiron(III) intermediate. It is also shown that the iron(III)-chlorido-hydroxido/cyclohexyl radical intermediate, resulting from CÀ H abstraction, selectively produces chlorocyclohexane in a rebound process. However, the lifetime of the intermediate is so long that other reaction channels (known as cage escape) become important, and much of the CÀ H abstraction therefore is unproductive. In bulk reactions at ambient temperature and at longer time scales, there is formation of significant amounts of oxidation product -selectively of chlorocyclohexane -and it is shown that this originates from oxidation of the oxido-bridged diiron (III) resting state.

The iron(iv)oxido complex [(bispidine)FeIVO(Cl)]+ is shown by experiment and high-level DLPNO-CCSD(T) quantum-chemical calculations to be an extremely short-lived and very reactive intermediate-spin (S = 1) species.

A method for the experimental determination of ligand-field (LF) energy splitting in mononuclear lanthanide complexes, based purely on variable-temperature NMR spectroscopy, was developed. The application of this method in an isostructural series of anionic lanthanide bis(cyclooctatetraenide) double-decker compounds bearing large rigid substituents is demonstrated. Using the three-nuclei plot approach devised by Reilley, the isostructurality of the compound series and the identical orientation of the magnetic main axis of all Ln ions in the series Tb to Tm are demonstrated. Measurement of the H NMR spectra of partially deuterated analogues of the complexes permitted determination of the axial magnetic susceptibility anisotropies χ for all five ions in the temperature range from 185 to 335 K. For this purpose, analysis of the hyperfine shifts was combined with structural models derived from density functional theory calculations. In a final step, the temperature dependence of the χ values was used for determination of the three axial LF parameters, adapting a method employed previously for phthalocyanine-based systems. The temperature dependence dictated by the LF parameters determined by this NMR-based approach is compared to the results of recently published ab initio calculations of the system, indicating reasonable agreement of both methods. For all ions except Dy, the NMR method determines the same m ground state as the calculations and the order and energies of the excited states match well. However, the sign of the magnetic anisotropy of the dysprosium complex in the temperature range evaluated here is not correctly predicted by the published calculations but can be described accurately by the NMR approach. This shows that our experimental method for determination of the LF parameters is an ideal complementation to other theoretical and experimental methods.

Oxidation of the iron(II) precursor [(L1)FeIICl2], where L1 is a tetradentate bispidine, with soluble iodosylbenzene (sPhIO) leads to the extremely reactive ferryl oxidant [(L1)(Cl)FeIV=O]+ with a cis disposition of the chlorido and oxido coligands, as observed in non‐heme halogenase enzymes. Experimental data indicate that, with cyclohexane as substrate, there is selective formation of chlorocyclohexane, the halogenation being initiated by C−H abstraction and the result of a rebound of the ensuing radical to an iron‐bound Cl−. The time‐resolved formation of the halogenation product indicates that this primarily results from sPhIO oxidation of an initially formed oxido‐bridged diiron(III) resting state. The high yield of up to >70 % (stoichiometric reaction) as well as the differing reactivities of free Fe2+ and Fe3+ in comparison with [(L1)FeIICl2] indicate a high complex stability of the bispidine‐iron complexes. DFT analysis shows that, due to a large driving force and small triplet‐quintet gap, [(L1)(Cl)FeIV=O]+ is the most reactive small‐molecule halogenase model, that the FeIII/radical rebound intermediate has a relatively long lifetime (as supported by experimentally observed cage escape), and that this intermediate has, as observed experimentally, a lower energy barrier to the halogenation than the hydroxylation product; this is shown to primarily be due to steric effects.

The carbonylation of alcohols represents a straightforward and atom-efficient methodology for the preparation of carboxylic acids. It is desirable to perform these reactions under precious metal-free and low-pressure conditions, with regioselectivity control. In this work, we present a detailed mechanistic study of a catalytic system based on NiI2, which can carbonylate benzylic alcohols in a highly regioselective manner to the corresponding branched carboxylic acids, core motifs for nonsteroidal drugs. The combination of catalytic amounts of nickel and iodide is crucial for efficient catalytic and regioselective conversion. Quantum-chemical computations were used to evaluate the underlying mechanistic processes. They revealed that a combination of two mechanisms is responsible for the observed reactivity and that the oxidative addition of alkyl halides to the Ni(0) species follows a radical oxidation pathway via two one-electron steps.