A novel amine-thiolate ligand, H
33·6HCl (
N,N',N''-tris-[2-thio-3-aminomethyl-5-
tert-butylbenzyl]-1,1,1-tris(aminomethyl)ethane), has been synthesized and used in the preparation of dinuclear complexes of Fe, Co, andNi. The nonadentate N
6S
3 ligand H
33 is formally derived from the symmetric tridentate N
2S ligand H
11 (2,6-bis(aminomethyl)-4-
tert-butylthiophenol). It provides two dissimilar octahedral N
3S
3 and N'
3S
3 coordination sitesto give complexes with a central N
3M(
2-SR)
3MN'
3 core structure (N and N' denote primary and secondaryamine nitrogen atoms, respectively). The complexes of H
33 exist as dinuclear [M
II2(
3)]
+, [M
IIIM
II(
3)]
2+, or [M
III2(
3)]
3+ species which are all accessible by chemical or electrochemical reduction/oxidation. The following complexeswere isolated as microcrystalline solids: [Co
III2(
3)][ClO
4]
3 (
4b), [Ni
IIINi
II(
3)][BPh
4]
2 (
5b), and [Fe
IIIFe
II(
3)][BPh
4]
2(
6b). The chemical and physicochemical properties of the respective species are very similar to those of Fe, Co,and Ni complexes of H
11, [M
2(
1)
3]
n+ (M = Co,
n = 3, (
4a); M = Ni,
n = 2 (
5a); M = Fe,
n = 2 (
6a)), andsupport the formulation of
4b-
6b as discrete dinuclear species with a central N
3M(
2-SR)
3MN'
3 core. NMRspectra of diamagnetic cobalt complexes
4a and
4b reveal the complexes to be
C3h and
C3 symmetric, respectively,in the solution state. The crystal structure determination of [Co
III2(
1)
3][Fe(CN)
6]·7MeOH·3H
2O (
4c) (monoclinic,space group
C2/c,
a = 28.037(2) Å,
b = 17.861(1) Å,
c = 25.727(2) Å,
![](/images/gifchars/beta2.gif)
= 90.24(1)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
, and
Z = 8) reveals
4cto consist of dinuclear [Co
III2(
1)
3]
3+ trications featuring two
fac-octahedral N
3Co
III(SR)
3 units bridged at the thiolatesulfur atoms. Compound
4c represents the first structurally characterized M
III2 complex of H
11. The ability ofH
33 to form heterodinuclear complexes is demonstrated with the synthesis of [Co
IIINi
II(
3)][BPh
4]
2 (
7) and itslinkage isomer [Ni
IICo
III(
3)][BPh
4]
2 (
8). All complexes undergo two electrochemically and chemically reversibleone-electron-transfer reactions which convert the respective [M
2(
3)]
n+ species. For M
III2/M
IIIM
II (
E11/2) and M
IIIM
II/M
II2 (
E21/2): -0.40 V, -0.84 V (M = Co), +0.49 V, +0.05 V (M = Ni), +0.21 V, -0.33 V (M = Fe) vs SCE.Heterodinuclear complexes
7 and
8 also give rise to two consecutive one-electron-transfer processes at
E11/2(Ni
III/II) and
E21/2 (Co
III/II): +0.55 V, -0.71 V (for
7) and +0.60 V, -0.86 V (for
8), respectively. Comparisonof the electrochemical properties of [Co
IIINi
II(
3)]
2+ and [Ni
IIINi
II(
3)]
2+ reveals the Ni
III/II redox potential in thedinuclear complexes to be influenced by the oxidation state of the adjacent metal ion. At 77 K the mixed-valentNi
IIINi
II (
S =
3/
2 spin ground states) and Fe
IIIFe
II complexes (
S =
1/
2 spin ground states) exhibit localized anddelocalized valencies, respectively, as indicated by UV-vis, EPR, and
57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy.