Reduction of N2 is a vital process, which is carried out in both nature (nitrogenase enzyme) and industry (Haber-Bosch process). Despite its importance, details of these reactions at atomic level are still not well understood. This is due to the fact that both processes utilize multimetallic active sites, which are inherently difficult to study. To better understand the N2 reduction mechanism in the multinuclear systems, in 2011, we reported a potassium-containing iron complex that is capable of completely cleaving the N-Ntriple bond to form an iron-nitride cluster compound (Science 2011 , 334, 780). Here, we report that other alkali metal reductants give a range of iron-N2 products with three or four Fe atoms. We discuss the characterization of new iron clusters, and their relationship to the mechanism of N-N bond cleavage.

Novel N<sub>2</sub> complexes of relevance to the NN bond breaking

247th National Meeting (2014)

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Novel N2 complexes of relevance to the NN bond breaking

Novel N₂ complexes of relevance to the NN bond breaking