The mononuclear iron(III) complexes [Fe(LH
2)(H
2O)Cl](ClO
4)
2·2H
2O (
1) and [Fe(LH
2)(H
2O)
2](ClO
4)
3·H
2O (
2) havebeen prepared by reacting [Pb(LH
2)](ClO
4)
2 with FeCl
3·6H
2O and Fe(ClO
4)
3·6H
2O, respectively. Complex
2 upontreatment with 1 equiv of alkali produces the oxo-bridged dimer [{Fe(LH
2)(H
2O)}
2(
-O)](ClO
4)
4·2H
2O (
3). In thesecompounds, LH
2 refers to the tetraiminodiphenol macrocycle in the zwitterionic form whose two uncoordinatedimine nitrogens are protonated and hydrogen-bonded to the metal-bound phenolate oxygens. The aqua ligands ofcomplexes
1-
3 get exchanged in acetonitrile. Reaction equilibria involving binding and exchange of the terminalligands (Cl
-/H
2O/CH
3CN) in these complexes have been studied spectrophotometrically. The equilibrium constantfor the aquation reaction (
Kaq) [
1]
2+ + H
2O
[
2]
3+ + Cl
- in acetonitrile is 8.65(5) M, and the binding constant(
KCl-) for the reaction [
1]
2+ + Cl
- [
1Cl]
+ + CH
3CN is 4.75(5) M. The p
KD value for the dimerization reaction2[
2]
3+ + 2OH
- [
3]
4+ + 3H
2O in 1:1 acetonitrile-water is 9.38(10). Complexes
1-
3 upon reaction with Zn(ClO
4)
2·6H
2O and sodium acetate (OAc), pivalate (OPiv), or bis(4-nitrophenyl)phosphate (BNPP) produce theheterobimetallic complexes [{FeLZn(
-X)}
2(
-O)](ClO
4)
2, where X = OAc (
4), OPiv (
5), and BNPP (
6). The pseudo-first-order rate constant (
kobs) for the formation of
4 at 25
C from either
1 or
3 with an excess of Zn(OAc)
2·2H
2Oin 1:1 acetonitrile-water at pH 6.6 is found to be the same with
kobs = 1.6(2) × 10
-4 s
-1. The X-ray crystalstructures of
3,
4, and
6 have been determined, although the structure determination of
3 was severely affectedbecause of heavy disordering. In
3, the Fe-O-Fe angle is 168.6(6)
, while it is exactly 180.0
in
4 and
6. Cyclicand square-wave voltammetric (CV and SWV) measurements have been carried out for complexes
1-
4 in acetonitrile.The variation of the solvent composition (acetonitrile-water) has a profound effect on the
E1/2 and
Ep values. Thebinding of an additional chloride ion to an iron(III) center in
1-
3 is accompanied by a remarkable shift of
E1/2 tomore negative values. The observation of quasi-reversible CV for complexes containing a Fe
III -O-Fe
III unit (
3 and
4) indicates that in the electrochemical time scale unusual Fe
III-O-Fe
II is produced. The
1H NMR spectra of complexes
3-
6 exhibit hyperfine-shifted signals in the range 0-90 ppm with similar features. The metal-hydrogen distancesobtained from
T1 measurements are in good agreement with the crystallographic data. Variable-temperature (2-300 K) magnetic susceptibility measurements carried out for
3 and
4 indicate strong antiferromagnetic exchangeinteraction (
H = -2
JS1·
S2) between the high-spin iron(III) centers in the Fe-O-Fe unit with
J = -114 cm
-1 (
3)and -107 cm
-1 (
4).