The reaction between an Fe
III complex and O
2 to afford a stable catalytically active diiron(IV)-
-oxo compound is described. Phosphonium salts of orange five-coordinated Fe
III-TAML complexes withan axial aqua ligand ([PPh
4]
1-H
2O, tetraamidato macrocyclic Fe
III species derived from 3,3,6,6,9,9-hexamethyl-3,4,8,9-tetrahydro-1
H-1,4,8,11-benzotetraazacyclotridecine-2,5,7,10(6
H,11
H)-tetraone) reactrapidly with O
2 in CH
2Cl
2 or other weakly coordinating solvents to produce black
-oxo-bridged diiron(IV)complexes,
2, in high yields. Complexes
2 have been characterized by X-ray crystallography (2 cases),microanalytical data, mass spectrometry, UV/Vis, Mössbauer, and
1H NMR spectroscopies. Mössbauerdata show that the diamagnetic Fe-O-Fe unit contains antiferromagnetically coupled
S = 1 Fe
IV sites;diamagnetic
1H NMR spectra are observed. The oxidation of PPh
3 to OPPh
3 by
2 was confirmed by UV/Vis and GC-MS. Labeling experiments with
18O
2 and H
218O established that the bridging oxygen atom of
2 derives from O
2. Complexes
2 catalyze the selective oxidation of benzylic alcohols into the correspondingaldehydes and bleach rapidly organic dyes, such as Orange II in MeCN-H
2O mixtures; reactivity evidencesuggests that free radical autoxidation is not involved. This work highlights a promising development forthe advancement of green oxidation technology, as O
2 is an abundant, clean, and inexpensive oxidizingagent.