posted on 2006-01-09, 00:00authored byPaul V. Bernhardt, Fernando Bozoglián, Gabriel González, Manuel Martínez, Brendan P. Macpherson, Beatriz Sienra
The preparation and characterization of a series of trinuclear mixed-valence cyano-bridged CoIII−FeII−CoIII compounds
derived from known dinuclear [{LnCoIII(μ-NC)}FeII(CN)5]- complexes (Ln = N5 or N3S2n-membered pendant amine
macrocycle) are presented. All of the new trinuclear complexes were fully characterized spectroscopically (UV−vis,
IR, and 13C NMR). Complexes exhibiting a trans and cis arrangement of the Co−Fe−Co units around the [Fe(CN)6]4-
center are described (i.e., cis/trans-[{LnCoIII(μ-NC)}2FeII(CN)4]2+), and some of their structures are determined by
X-ray crystallography. Electrochemical experiments revealed an expected anodic shift of the FeIII/II redox potential
upon addition of a tripositively charged {CoIIILn} moiety. The CoIII/II redox potentials do not change greatly from the
di- to the trinuclear complex, but rather behave in a fully independent and noncooperative way. In this respect, the
energies and extinction coefficients of the MMCT bands agree with the formal existence of two mixed-valence
FeII−CN−CoIII units per molecule. Solvatochromic experiments also indicated that the MMCT band of these compounds
behaves as expected for a class II mixed-valence complex. Nevertheless, its extinction coefficient is dramatically
increased upon increasing the solvent donor number.