Structure of solvated Fe(CO)5: complex formation during solvation in alcohols

The equilibrium structure of iron pentacarbonyl, Fe(CO)5, solvated in various alcohols has been investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) measurements and density functional theory calculations. This system was studied because it is prototypical of a larger class of monometallic systems, which are electronically saturated but not sterically crowded. Upon solvation, the Fe(CO)5 is not just surrounded by a solvation shell. Instead, solute-solvent complexes are formed with the oxygen of the alcohol oriented toward an axial ligand of the Fe(CO)5 giving a formation energy on the order of -5 kJ/mol. This complexation is not a chemical reaction but rather a "preassembly" of the solute molecules with a single solvent molecule. For instance, at room temperature the interaction between Fe(CO)5 and ethanol results in 87% of all Fe(CO)5 molecules being complexated with a single ethanol molecule. This complexation was found in all the alcohol systems studied in this paper. The stability of these complexes was found to depend on the alcohol chain length and branching. The observed complexation mechanism is accompanied by an electron density shift from the complexed alcohol molecule toward Fe(CO)5 where it induces a dipole moment. The finding that Fe(CO)5 forms a complex with the hydroxyl group of a single solvent molecule might have significant implications for ligand substitution reactions. This implies that ligand substitution reactions do not have to proceed via a dissociative mechanism. Instead, the reaction might proceed through a concerted mechanism with the leaving CO simultaneously being replaced by the incoming alcohol that was complexed to Fe(CO)5 prior to the photoexcitation.