Preparation and mössbauer studies of tetraaquabis[maleato(1-)]-iron(II)

Summary Tetraaquabis[maleato(1-)]iron(II), Fe(C₄H₃O₄)₂ · 4H₂O has been synthesised. The compound is monomeric and is isomorphous with the manganese(II) analogue. The temperature dependence of quadrupole splitting and optical spectral data giveca. 10000 cm^–1,ca. 650 cm^–1,ca. 190 cm^–1 andca. 1400 cm^–1 for the 10 Dq, tetragonal field, rhombic field and the splitting of the E_g level, respectively. The quadrupole splitting data indicate that distortion from cubic symmetry increases in the order oxalate < malonate < maleate. DTA, TGA and Mössbauer studies indicate elimination of one molecule of maleic acid at 235 °C. The resulting product shows a less distorted structure and this is attributed to the formation of maleato(2-)iron(II).