The reaction of mononuclear [LFe
III] where L represents the trianionic lig
and 1,4,7-tris(4-
tert-butyl-2-mercaptobenzyl)-1,4,7-triazacyclononane with Pb(ClO
4)
2·3H
2O in methanol affords the heterotrinuclear complex[LFePbFeL](ClO
4)
2 (
1). Similarly, with SnSO
4 or GeI
2 as starting material in an acetonitrile/water mixture
andCH
2Cl
2, respectively, the reaction with [LFe
III] yields crystalline materials of [LFeSnFeL](PF
6)
2 (
2a)
and[LFeGeFeL](PF
6)
2 (
3a) upon addition of NaPF
6. Complexes
2a and 3a can be one-electron oxidized by [Ni
III(tacn)
2](ClO
4)
3 (tacn = 1,4,7-triazacyclononane) to give [LFeSnFeL](ClO
4)
3 (
2b)
and [LFeGeFeL](ClO
4)
3 (
3b).The crystal structures of [LFeSnFeL](BPh
4)
2·6CH
3CN (
2a*), [LFeSnFeL](ClO
4)
3·4.5(CH
3)
2CO (
2b*),
and[LFeGeFeL](BPh
4)
2·6CH
3CN (
3a*) have been determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The trinuclearcations consist of three face-sharing octahedra connected by six thiolato bridges affording the core N
3Fe(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-S)
3M(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-S)
3FeN
3 (M = Sn,Ge). Fe
and Sn(Ge) K edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy on
2a,
2b,
and 3a,
3b establishedthat the one-electron oxidations affect exclusively the iron ions whereas the oxidation state of the central Sn(Ge)remains unaffected.
119Sn(
57Fe) Mössbauer spectroscopy, magnetochemistry,
and EPR spectroscopy prove thatboth the Sn
and Ge ions in the di-
and trications are
trivalent since the unpaired electron in
2b and 3b displayssubstantial 5s
and 4s character, respectively. In contrast, in
1, an oxidation state distribution of l.s.Fe
IIIPb
IIl.s.Fe
IIIprevails. Complexes
1,
2a,
and 3a possess a diamagnetic ground state whereas
2b and 3b have an
St =
1/
2 groundstate.