Photochemical reduction of iron trichloride in ethyl acetate: synthesis,Mössbauer spectra and the crystal structure at 80 K of hexakis(ethyl acetate)iron(II) bis-tetrachloroironate(III)

FeCl₃ in ethyl acetate under the influence of sunlight, undergoes partial reduction yields the [Fe(CH₃CO₂Et)₆](FeCl₄)₂ salt. The Mössbauer spectra showed that the iron atoms are at +2 and +3 oxidation states. The crystal structure determined by X-ray diffraction methods at 80 K and refined by full-matrix least-squares techniques toR=0.028 for 2410 independent non-zero reflections is in good agreement with the Mössbauer results. The [Fe(CH₃CO₂Et)₆]²⁺ cations occupy centers of symmetry and the Fe²⁺ ions are octahedrally coordinated by six carbonyl oxygen atoms of six ethyl acetate molecules.