Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 8, 2025

Author Spotlight: Experimental Approaches for the Synthesis of Low-Valent Metal-Organic Frameworks from Multitopic Phosphine Linkers
Published on: May 12, 2023
Access to Metal Centers and Fluxional Hydride Coordination Integral for CO2 Insertion into [Fe3(μ-H)3]3+ Clusters
Dae Ho Hong1, Ricardo B Ferreira1, Vincent J Catalano2
1Center for Catalysis and Florida Center for Heterocyclic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, United States.
Abstract:
CO2 insertion into tri(μ-hydrido)triiron(II) clusters ligated by a tris(β-diketiminate) cyclophane is demonstrated to be balanced by sterics for CO2 approach and hydride accessibility. Time-resolved NMR and UV-vis spectra for this reaction for a complex in which methoxy groups border the pocket of the hydride donor (Fe3H3L, 4) result in a decreased activation barrier and increased kinetic isotope effect consistent with the reduced sterics. For the ethyl congener Fe3H3L (2), no correlation is found between rate and reaction solvent or added Lewis acids, implying CO2 coordination to an Fe center in the mechanism. The estimated hydricity (50 kcal/mol) based on observed H/D exchange with BD3 requires Fe-O bond formation in the product to offset an endergonic CO2 insertion. μ3-hydride coordination is noted to lower the activation barrier for the first CO2 insertion event in DFT calculations.
More Related Videos
09:37Imine Metathesis by Silica-Supported Catalysts Using the Methodology of Surface Organometallic Chemistry
Published on: October 18, 2019
04:51Author Spotlight: Functionalizing Metal-Organic Frameworks: Advancements, Challenges, and the Power of Post-Synthetic Ligand Exchange
Published on: June 23, 2023
Related Concept Videos
Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...
Valence Bond Theory
Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
Colors and Magnetism
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human...
Coordination Number and Geometry
Properties of Organometallic Compounds