Angewandte
Communications
Chemie
À1 [17]
frozen acetonitrile solution (831 cm ). The experimentally
determined Fe=O stretches of iron(IV) complexes in con-
À1
densed phase expand from 780 to 900 cm and a spin
[24]
correlation with the spin state cannot be established.
The IRPD spectra do not give strong evidence for which
isomers are formed. Nevertheless, DFT methods are much
more reliable in determination of relative stabilities of
[25]
isomers than in the prediction of spin states. We can state
3
that all tested DFT methods predict that the 1 isomer is
3
substantially more stable than the 2 isomer (at least
À1
1
0 kJmol ). Hence, we conclude that by electrospray ioniza-
Figure 2. Results of DFT calculations (the functionals are specified at
the bottom of the data, the basis set was always 6-311+ +G**, for
the OPBE functional also def2-TZVP was tested—denoted by asterisk).
The red and blue lines denote relative energies of the isomers (left
axis); the pink and light blue lines show the unscaled antisymmetric
3
tion of the ions oxidized in solution we generate the
1
isomers. Under the assumption that the spin-isomerization at
[
3,5]
the iron atom is fast,
it can be also concluded that the
triplet state is the ground state of the isomer 1. Significantly,
1 reproduces the spin and isomeric structure previously
determined in acetonitrile solution.
NO stretch for quintet and triplet states, respectively (dashed lines
2
are for the 1 isomers and solid lines are for the 2 isomers).
5
For the quintet states, the 2 isomer is consistently more
5
stable than the equatorial 1 isomer. The energy differences
are smaller than those for the isomers in the triplet state
À1
finally the M06 functional largely stabilizes both quintet
states with respect to the triplet states (results obtained with
other DFT functionals can be found in the Supporting
Information, Figures S14, S15, Table S3). It should be stressed
that not only the ordering of the spin states is changing in
dependence of the used DFT functional, but also optimized
geometries of triplet and quintet states differ and favor the
particular state. The correct theoretical treatment thus not
only requires high-level multi-reference calculations but also
full geometry optimizations at the given level are necessary.
Contrary to the energy assignments, the IR characteristics
of the given spin-isomers are predicted consistently and can
be used for the assignment of the ions studied experimentally.
(4 kJmol on average). Theoretically, we could thus gener-
5
ate, by in-source fragmentation, a mixture of both isomers 1
and 2. Again, under the assumption that spin-isomerization
at the iron atom is fast, the 1 isomer is expected to cross over
to the 1 ground state. We are thus left with the conclusion
that the ions in the quintet state generated by in-source
fragmentation of the iron(III) precursors correspond to the 2
ions. We note in passing that we have excluded interference
from other isomers of the generated complexes such as those
with an oxidized ligand (Figure S16, S17).
Analysis of the IRPD spectra thus suggests that we are
studying a mixture of 1 and 2. The separated IRPD spectra
shown in Figure 1c characterize the triplet isomer 1 (the blue
spectrum) and the quintet isomer 2 (the pink spectrum). The
ratio of 1 and 2 among the ions transferred from the solution
and among those formed by in-source fragmentation is
0.75:0.25 and 0.35:0.65, respectively, as determined from the
linear combinations of the spectra.
In the next step, we have compared the reactivities of the
ions and extracted reaction rates associated with the triplet-
and quintet-state complexes (Table S1 in the Supporting
Information). The 1 and 2 complexes differ not only in spin,
but also in the orientation of the oxo group with respect to the
plane of the pyridine ring. It was previously shown that the
orientation of the oxo ligand perpendicular to the plane of the
pyridine ligand can contribute to its larger reactivity. As we
have shown experimentally, it also contributes to the stabi-
lization of the high-spin state. It might be possible that these
two effects are interconnected (for example via lowering of
the high-spin energy barrier for a reaction). In both isomers,
1 and 2, an aliphatic amine is trans to the oxo ligand, and
therefore this aspect can be reasonably discarded to differ-
5
5
3
5
3
5
3
5
The antisymmetric stretching of the NO unit (cf. Figure 1e) is
2
3
5
blue-shifted for the quintet states with respect to the triplet
states (pink vs. light blue line in Figure 2). Natural bond
orbital (NBO) analysis shows that there is consistently greater
spin localization at the nitrate counterions for the quintet
states which is reflected in the blue shift of the antisymmetric
NO2 stretch (Table S3). Another effect observed for the
quintet-state complexes is a red shift of the NÀO vibration
À1
3
5
below 900 cm (cf. Figure 1d,e). Analogous band shifts are
also observed experimentally. Hence, the ions generated in
the gas phase by in-source fragmentation reveal a blue-shifted
À1
À1
band at 1603 cm and a red-shifted band at 900 cm with
respect to the bands observed for the ions obtained by
oxidation in solution. Therefore we conclude that the ions
generated by in-source fragmentation of the iron(III) pre-
[26]
5
5
cursors are in the quintet state ( 1 and/or 2). The ions
oxidized by peracetic acid in solution and transferred to the
3
3
gas phase are then triplets ( 1 and/or 2). Note that this is in
agreement with the previous results obtained by Mçssbauer
[17]
[27]
spectroscopy.
The expected Fe=O stretch is predicted in the computed
entiate the reactivity between isomers. It was reported that
a change of the ligand trans to the oxo ligand from an aliphatic
amine to pyridine can lead to differences in reactivities for
isospin iron complexes of an order of magnitude.
The reaction was investigated with 1,4-cyclohexadiene
and with partially deuterated 1,4-cyclohexadiene-[D ] with
both methylene groups bearing one H and one D atom
3
5
3
5
À1
spectra of 1, 1, 2, and 2 at approximately 900 cm . These
are commonly low-intensity vibrational features and cannot
be discerned in the experimental IRPD spectra. They are blue
shifted with respect to the value obtained by resonance
[25]
6
2
+
Raman spectroscopy for [(PyTACN)Fe(O)(CH CN)] in
3
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 3637 –3641
ꢀ 2016 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
3639