Recent studies in Fe-catalysed C-C bond formation processes have postulated the possible involvement of bimetallic species, which combine iron with a more polar metal such as lithium or magnesium, as key reactive intermediates in these important transformations. Surprisingly at present, there is very little information available on the structure and reactivity of these bimetallic (ferrate) species.Shedding some light in this evolving area, this talk will present a new synthetic approach to prepare mixed-sodium-iron tris(amido) ferrates. With the aid of X-ray crystallographic studies, several structural motifs for this novel family of compounds will be introduced. Exhibiting an enhanced reactivity to that of related iron (II) amido compounds, these sodium ferrates can promote direct Fe-H exchange reactions of substituted aromatic molecules under mild reaction conditions. Structural elucidations of key reaction intermediates (see Figure 1) as well as the role played by the alkali-metal in these unprecedented direct ferration processes will also be discussed.Figure 1 - Direct ferration of fluorobenzene at the ortho? position

Novel structural and synthetic insights in alkali-metal ferrate chemistry

248th National Meeting (2014)

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