Binuclear iron butane-1,2-dithiolate compounds with cyclohexyldiphenylphosphine or dicyclohexylphenylphosphine: Synthetic, spectroscopic, crystal structural, and electrochemical studies

ABSTRACT

In this article, two new binuclear iron compounds [Fe₂(CO)₅PPh(C₆H₁₁)₂{µ-SCH₂CH(CH₂CH₃)S}] (2) and [Fe₂(CO)₅PPh₂(C₆H₁₁){µ-SCH₂CH(CH₂CH₃)S}] (3), which can be regarded as the biomimics for the active site of [FeFe]-H₂ases, have been synthesized by CO exchange of compound [Fe₂(CO)₆{μ-SCH₂CH(CH₂CH₃)S}] (1) with cyclohexyldiph-enylphosphine or dicyclohexylphenylphosphine and their structures have been confirmed by spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and X-ray crystallography. They also exhibited good electrocatalytic activities for the generation of H₂.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Binuclear iron
• [FeFe]-H₂ase
• synthesis
• X-ray crystallography
• electrochemistry

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant LY19B020002, National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 21501124, Science & Technology Department of Sichuan Province under Grant 2018JY0235, Education Department of Sichuan Province under Grant 18ZA0337, and Sichuan University of Science & Engineering under Grant S201910622022.