Nontrivial structural organization of pivalate complexes with the fragment {Fe2Li(μ3-O)}

Abstract

The reaction of FeIII and LII pivalates with 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) in toluene simultaneously gives the heteronuclear compounds [Fe2Li(O)(Piv)5(phen)2]·2HPiv and [{Li4(Piv)4(HPiv)2}{Fe2LiO(Piv)5(phen)2}2]·2PhMe with a structural organization uncharacteristic of FeIII and alkali metals. According to X-ray diffraction data, the trinuclear metal oxide moiety {Fe2Li (μ3-O)} forms two nonequivalent complex molecules, which form infinite horizontal chains in the crystal due to stacking interactions between aromatic rings.