Activation Volumes and Their Variation with Solvent Composition for Dissociation of Iron(II)—Diimine Complexes in Acidic and Basic Media

Abstract

A summary of published work on the kinetics of dissociation of iron(II)—diimine complexes in aqueous or aqueous solvent mixtures in the presence of acid or base is presented. There is an emphasis on the use of the volume of activation as a means of addressing questions of mechanism and solvation. This account indicates that available results can be interpreted to show that dissociation proceeds by an associative mode of activation in a basic medium and by a dissociative path in acidic solution.

Key Words:

• iron(II)—diimine complexes
• high pressure kinetics
• volumes of activation
• substitution mechanisms