Synthesis and structure of well-defined tricarbonyl iron(0) complexes with multivinylsilicon ligands

•For stabilization of [Fe(CO)3] reactive species, multivinylsilicon ligands were used.•Twelve new iron(0) complexes were synthesized and fully characterized.•The correlation between Fe environment and the structure of silicon ligands was found.•The NMR data allowed to determine the geometries of non-crystalline complexes.

In this paper the synthesis of new iron(0) carbonyl complexes with π-bonded ligands containing at least two silicon-vinyl groups of formula [Fe(CO)3L] and [{Fe(CO)3}2L′] are described. The synthesis is done via UV light initiated substitution of carbonyl ligands in [Fe(CO)5] or [Fe2(CO)9] precursors by organosilicon dienes, trienes, vinyl functional silicones (L), tetraenes (L′). The spectroscopic study (1H and 13C NMR) and X-ray analysis of these novel complexes showed that they are all 5 coordinate exhibiting two geometric environments, i.e. trigonal bipyramidal or tetragonal pyramidal.

Graphical abstractThe UV light initiated substitution of CO ligands in iron(0) carbonyl precursors by multivinylsilicon derivatives allowed the synthesis of new type of mono-, di- and polynuclear iron(0) complexes in which [Fe(CO)3] reactive moiety is stabilized by π-bonded ligands. The structures for five complexes have been determined by the X-ray analysis.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide