Iron complexes of terdentate nitrogen ligands: formation and X-ray structure of three new dicationic complexes

Dicationic iron complexes were obtained upon complexation of the ligands 6,6″-di(p-tolyl)-2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine (L¹) or 2,6-bis-(3-mesitylpyrazol-1-yl)pyridine (L²) with iron dichloride or iron trichloride. They were characterized by X-ray diffraction and FT-IR spectroscopy. Single crystal structure determinations of , and all show six-coordinate metal center. These complexes were obtained from L¹FeCl₂ and L²FeCl₂ during recrystallization attempts. (L¹)₂Fe²⁺ was shown to be a high-spin complex, whereas (L²)₂Fe²⁺ was shown to be low-spin. For , two independent dications of very similar geometry but with distinctive distortion were observed by X-ray analysis.