We show by experiments that nonheme Fe(IV)O species react with cyclohexene to yield selective hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) reactions with virtually no C═C epoxidation. Straightforward DFT calculations reveal, however, that C═C epoxidation on the S = 2 state possesses a low-energy barrier and should contribute substantially to the oxidation of cyclohexene by the nonheme Fe(IV)O species. By modeling the selectivity of this two-site reactivity, we show that an interplay of tunneling and spin inversion probability (SIP) reverses the apparent barriers and prefers exclusive S = 1 HAT over mixed HAT and C═C epoxidation on S = 2. The model enables us to derive a SIP value by combining experimental and theoretical results.

A comprehensive experimental and theoretical study of the reactivity patterns and reaction mechanisms in alkane hydroxylation, olefin epoxidation, cyclohexene oxidation, and sulfoxidation reactions by a mononuclear nonheme ruthenium(IV)-oxo complex, [Ru(IV)(O)(terpy)(bpm)](2+) (1), has been conducted. In alkane hydroxylation (i.e., oxygen rebound vs oxygen non-rebound mechanisms), both the experimental and theoretical results show that the substrate radical formed via a rate-determining H atom abstraction of alkanes by 1 prefers dissociation over oxygen rebound and desaturation processes. In the oxidation of olefins by 1, the observations of a kinetic isotope effect (KIE) value of 1 and styrene oxide formation lead us to conclude that an epoxidation reaction via oxygen atom transfer (OAT) from the Ru(IV)O complex to the C═C double bond is the dominant pathway. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the epoxidation reaction is a two-step, two-spin-state process. In contrast, the oxidation of cyclohexene by 1 affords products derived from allylic C-H bond oxidation, with a high KIE value of 38(3). The preference for H atom abstraction over C═C double bond epoxidation in the oxidation of cyclohexene by 1 is elucidated by DFT calculations, which show that the energy barrier for C-H activation is 4.5 kcal mol(-1) lower than the energy barrier for epoxidation. In the oxidation of sulfides, sulfoxidation by the electrophilic Ru-oxo group of 1 occurs via a direct OAT mechanism, and DFT calculations show that this is a two-spin-state reaction in which the transition state is the lowest in the S = 0 state.

Give me an "O"! Mononuclear nonheme iron(IV) oxo complexes have been generated using water as an oxygen source and cerium(IV) as an oxidant. The high-yield oxygenation of organic substrates in this system (see picture, Fe green, O red, N blue, C gray) is catalyzed by iron(II) complexes. The source of oxygen in the iron(IV) oxo complexes and the oxygenated products has been assigned unambiguously by isotopic labeling experiments.