Orange-glowing iron at room temperature

Abstract

Inorganic Chemistry Many photoactive coordination compounds contain precious metals. Replacing ruthenium with more–earth-abundant iron has been a long-sought goal, but iron compounds generally relax too rapidly after light absorption to channel the energy productively. Kjaer et al. prepared an iron compound with an excited state stable enough to emit light for nanoseconds, or that could engage in bimolecular electron transfer (see the Perspective by Young and Oldacre). Targeting a ligand-to-metal rather than metal-to-ligand charge-transfer state was key to the achievement, as was the octahedral coordination environment rigidly enforced by two tridentate carbene ligands. Science , this issue p. [249][1]; see also p. [225][2] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aau7160 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aav9866