We have investigated the 57Fe Mössbauer
quadrupole splittings in the following compounds by
using density functional theory, and in some cases via experiment:
Fe(CO)3(cyclo-butadiene),
Fe(CO)5, Fe(CO)3(1,4−butadiene), CpFe(CO)2Me,
Fe(CO)3(propenal), CpFe(CO)2Cl,
(CO)(pyridine)(DMGBPh2)2Fe(II)
(DMG = dimethylglyoximato),
(CO)(pyridine)(DMGBBN)2Fe(II) (BBN =
9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane), (CO)(1-methylimidazole)(5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphinato)Fe(II),
(CO)(pyridine)(5,10,15,20-tetraphenyl-porphinato)Fe(II),
(nitrosobenzene)(pyridine)(5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphinato)Fe(II),
(pyridine)2(5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphinato)Fe(II),
(1-methylimidazole)2(5,10,15,20-tetramesitylporphinato)Fe(II),
and (trimethylphosphine)2(2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaethylporphinato)Fe(II).
The electric field gradients at iron were evaluated
by
using a locally dense basis approach: a Wachters' all electron
representation for iron, a 6-311++G2d basis
for
all atoms directly bonded to iron, and either a 6-31G* basis for all
other atoms or, in the case of the
metalloporphyrins, a 6-31G*/3-21G* or 4-31G* basis, with the smaller
basis being used on the peripheral
atoms. Using a value of 0.16 × 10-28
m2 for the quadrupole moment of
57Fem, we find good agreement
between theoretical and experimental quadrupole splittings: a slope
of 1.04, an R
2 value of 0.975, and
a
root-mean-square error of 0.18 mm s-1, for
the 14 compounds examined. We have also investigated
the
effects of the CO ligand tilt and bend on the 57Fe
quadrupole splittings in several heme models. The
theoretical
results provide no support for the very large (40°) Fe−C−O bond
angles suggested by several diffraction
studies on Physeter catodon carbonmonoxymyoglobin
(P21 crystals). In contrast, the
experimental results for
(CO)(1-MeIm)(5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphinato)Fe(II),
which contains a linear and untilted Fe−CO, are in
very close accord with the experimental values for CO-myoglobin: 0.35
mm s-1 for the model system
versus
0.363−0.373 mm s-1 for MbCO, with
V
zz
oriented perpendicular to the
porphyrin plane, as found experimentally.
Calculations on metalloporphyrins at the more distorted X-ray
geometries yield quadrupole splittings around
2 mm s-1, inconsistent with
experiment.