Synthesis, structure and magnetic characterization of a dinuclear and two mononuclear iron(III) complexes with N,O-donor Schiff base ligands

Abstract

One centrosymmetric dinuclear and two mononuclear iron(III) Schiff base complexes, [(µ-OMe)2Fe2(L1)2(N3)2] (1) {HL1 = 2-((2-(dimethylamino)ethylimino)methyl)-6-ethoxyphenol}, [FeL2(OH2)(N3)]·CH3OH (2) {H2L2 = N,N′-bis(3-ethoxysalicylidene)propane-1,3-diamine} and [FeL3(OH2)(NCS)]·2H2O (3) {H2L3 = N,N′-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)propane-1,3-diamine}, have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and spectral studies. X-ray diffraction analysis was used to determine the structures of all three complexes. Variable temperature (2–300 K) magnetic susceptibility (χ) data of complex 1 show that both iron(III) centres in the complex are in a high spin configuration (S = 5/2) and present a moderate antiferromagnetic exchange interaction mediated through the double methoxido bridges (J = − 43.7 cm−1) between the metal centres, that correlated well with previous magneto-structural correlations in double alkoxido bridged iron(III) dimers.