Half of the world's population today can attribute their existence to fertilizer generated from the reduction of nitrogen to ammonia by the Haber-Bosch process.   Although the Haber-Bosch process occurs at high temperatures and pressures, nature can generate NH3 from N2, protons, and electrons at ambient conditions with nitrogenase enzymes.  The mechanism for the reduction of N2 to NH3 by nitorgenase has been of much debate with little insight into proton transfer during the reduction process.  In our approach we are using (diphosphine)2Fe(N2) complexes where one of the diphosphine ligands contains a pendant amine.  This talk will discuss the synthesis and reactivity of these complexes to answer the fundamental question of the role of proton relays in the second coordination sphere of the complexes in their ability to facilitate proton movement from an external acid to metal-bound dinitrogen ligands in the multi-proton/electron reduction of N2 to ammonia.

Synthesis and reactivity of iron dinitrogen complexes containing pendant amines

244th National Meeting (2012)

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