N-Alkyl substituted triazenide-bridged homoleptic iron(II) dimers with an exceptionally short Fe-Fe bond.

Dinuclear transition metal complexes with direct metal-metal interactions have the potential to generate unique reactivities and properties. Using asymmetric triazine ligands HN3tBuR (R = Et, iPr, nBu) featuring different alkyl substituents at 1,3-N centers, we report here the first rational synthesis of 'tetragonal lantern' type Fe(II) triazenides [Fe2(N3tBuR)4] [R = Et (1), iPr (2), nBu (3)] having an exceptionally short Fe-Fe distance (2.167-2.174 Å). Unlike the previously reported lantern structures with related amidinate or guanidinate ligands, highly air-sensitive 1-3 show a lower spin ground state, as indicated by Mössbauer, 1H NMR and DFT studies.

Asymmetrically substituted triazenes as poor electron donor ligands in the precursor chemistry of iron(ii) for iron-based metallic and intermetallic nanocrystals.

Triazene ligands are introduced, for the first time, in the precursor chemistry for their ability to afford oxygen-free molecular precursors of Fe0 nanoparticles. For this purpose, we synthesized new asymmetric triazene ligands t-BuN[double bond, length as m-dash]N-NHR (R = Et, i-Pr, n-Bu) featuring different alkyl substituents at 1,3-N centers, as well as a symmetric ligand t-BuN[double bond, length as m-dash]N-NHt-Bu and used them to develop novel heteroleptic monomeric FeII triazenide derivatives [Fe(t-BuN3R)2(TMEDA)] (where TMEDA = tetramethylethylenediamine). A range of physico-chemical studies such as FT-IR, TG-DTA, 1H & 13C NMR, mass spectrometry, single crystal X-ray structure analysis, cyclic voltammetry and Mössbauer spectroscopy were used to characterize these newly synthesized ligands and FeII derivatives. One representative derivative [Fe(t-BuN3Et)2(TMEDA)] was evaluated as a precursor for the synthesis of metallic Fe0 and intermetallic Al13Fe4 nanoparticles by the chemical solution deposition method.