High-Spin and Reactive Fe13 Cluster with Exposed Metal Sites

Atomically defined large metal clusters have applications in new reaction development and preparation of materials with tailored properties. Expanding the synthetic toolbox for reactive high nuclearity metal complexes, we report a new class of Fe clusters, Tp*4W4Fe13S12, displaying a Fe-13 core with M-M bonds that has precedent only in main group and late metal chemistry. M-13 clusters with closed shell electron configurations can show significant stability and have been classified as superatoms. In contrast, Tp*4W4Fe13S12 displays a large spin ground state of S=13. This compound performs small molecule activations involving the transfer of up to 12 electrons resulting in significant cluster rearrangements.

Automated summary

Atomically defined large metal clusters have significant applications in new reaction development and the synthesis of materials with tailored properties. In this study, a new class of Fe clusters, Tp*4W4Fe13S12, with M-M bonds is reported, which has only been observed in main group and late metal chemistry. The Fe-13 core of this cluster exhibits a large spin ground state of S=13 and can undergo significant rearrangements through small molecule activations involving the transfer of up to 12 electrons.