Kinetics and mechanisms of the electron transfer reactions of oxo-centred carboxylate bridged complexes, [Fe3(mu3-O)(O2CR)6L3]ClO4, with verdazyl radicals in acetonitrile solution

A range of oxo-centred, carboxylate bridged tri-iron complexes of general formula [Fe3(mu3-O)(O2CR)6L3]ClO4(R=CH2CN, CH2F, CH2Cl, CH2Br, p-NO2C6H4; L=pyridine, 3-methylpyridine, 4-methylpyridine, 3,5-dimethylpyridine, 3-cyanopyridine and 3-fluoropyridine) have been prepared and characterised. The choice of R and L was dictated by the requirement that the complexes undergo a one-electron reduction when reacted with verdazyl radicals. All except the complexes where L=pyridine and R=CH2CN, CH2Cl and p-NO2C6H4 have not been previously reported. The redox behaviour of these compounds has been investigated using cyclic voltammetry in acetonitrile in the absence and in the presence of free L. In general, all complexes exhibited reversible one-electron reductions. Electrochemical behaviour improved in the presence of an excess of L. The kinetics of the electron transfer reaction observed when acetonitrile solutions of the complexes were reacted with a range of verdazyl radicals were monitored using stopped-flow spectrophotometry. Under the experimental conditions, the reactions were quite rapid and were monitored under second-order conditions. Marcus linear free energy plots indicated that the outer-sphere electron transfer reactions were non-adiabatic in nature. Nevertheless, application of the self-exchange rate constants of the verdazyl radicals, k11, and the tri-iron complexes, k22, to the Marcus cross-relation resulted in calculated values of the cross-reaction rate constant, k12, that were within a factor of five of the experimentally determined value.