Interplay of Electronic Cooperativity and Exchange Coupling in Regulating the Reactivity of Diiron(IV)-oxo Complexes towards C-H and O-H Bond Activation

Activation of inert C-H bonds such as those of methane are extremely challenging for chemists but in nature, the soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) enzyme readily oxidizes methane to methanol by using a diiron(IV) species. This has prompted chemists to look for similar model systems. Recently, a (-oxo)bis(-carboxamido)diiron(IV) ([(Fe2O)-O-IV(L)(2)](2+) L=N,N-bis-(3,5-dimethyl-4-methoxypyridyl-2-methyl)-N-acetyl-1,2-diaminoethane) complex has been generated by bulk electrolysis and this species activates inert C-H bonds almost 1000 times faster than mononuclear Fe-IV=O species and at the same time selectively activates O-H bonds of alcohols. The very high reactivity and selectivity of this species is puzzling and herein we use extensive DFT calculations to shed light on this aspect. We have studied the electronic and spectral features of diiron {Fe-III-mu(O)-Fe-III}(+2) (complexI), {Fe-III-mu(O)-Fe-IV}(+3) (II), and {Fe-IV-mu(O)-Fe-IV}(+4) (III) complexes. Strong antiferromagnetic coupling between the Fe centers leads to spin-coupled S=0, S=3/2, and S=0 ground state for species I-III respectively. The mechanistic study of the C-H and O-H bond activation reveals a multistate reactivity scenario where C-H bond activation is found to occur through the S=4 spin-coupled state corresponding to the high-spin state of individual Fe-IV centers. The O-H bond activation on the other hand, occurs through the S=2 spin-coupled state corresponding to an intermediate state of individual Fe-IV centers. Molecular orbital analysis reveals sigma-/- channels for the reactivity. The nature of the magnetic exchange interaction is found to be switched during the course of the reaction and this offers lower energy pathways. Significant electronic cooperativity between two metal centers during the course of the reaction has been witnessed and this uncovers the reason behind the efficiency and selectivity observed. The catalyst is found to prudently choose the desired spin states based on the nature of the substrate to effect the catalytic transformations. These findings suggest that the presence of such factors play a role in the reactivity of dinuclear metalloenzymes such as sMMO.