N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands as Cyanide Mimics in Diiron Models of the All-Iron Hydrogenase Active Site

Abstract

The reaction of [Fe2(μ-S(CH2)3S)(CO)6] with an excess of 1,3-dimethylimidazol-2-ylidene (LMe) affords the mono- and disubstituted species [Fe2(μ-S(CH2)3S)(CO)5(LMe)] (1) and [Fe2(μ-S(CH2)3S)(CO)4(LMe)2] (2), respectively. The structures of 1 and 2 have been determined by X-ray crystallography.