Kinetics of the reaction of nitric oxide with polypyridylamine iron(II) complexes

The reactions of three polypyridylamine ferrous complexes, [Fe(TPEN)]²⁺, [Fe(TPPN)]²⁺, and [Fe(TPTN)]²⁺, with nitric oxide (NO) (where TPEN = N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine, TPPN = N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)-1,2-propylenediamine, and TPTN = N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)trimethylenediamine) were investigated. The first two complexes, which are spin-crossover systems, presented second-order rate constants for complex formation reactions (k_f) of 8.4 × 10³ and 9.3 × 10³ M^?1 s^?1, respectively (pH 5.0, 25 °C, I = 0.1 M). In contrast, the [Fe(TPTN)]²⁺ complex, which is in low-spin ground state, did not show any detectable reaction with NO. k_f values are lower than those of high-spin Fe(II) complexes, such as [Fe(EDTA)]^2? (EDTA = ethylenediaminetetraacetate) and [Fe(H₂O)]²⁺, but higher than low-spin Fe(II) complexes, such as [Fe(CN)₅(H₂O)]^3? and [Fe(bipyridine)₃]²⁺. The release of NO from the [Fe(TPEN)NO]²⁺ and [Fe(TPPN)NO]²⁺ complexes were also studied, showing the values 15.6 and 17.7 s^?1, respectively, comparable to the high-spin aminocarboxylate analogs. A mechanism is proposed based on the spin-crossover behavior and the geometry of these complexes and is discussed in the context of previous publications.