Direct photochemical activation of non-heme Fe(<scp>iv</scp>)O complexes

Abstract

Near-UV excitation of non-heme Fe^IV[double bond, length as m-dash]O complexes results in light intensity dependent increase in reaction rates for the oxidation of C-H bonds even at low temperature (-30 °C). The enhancement of activity is ascribed to the ligand-to-[Fe^IV[double bond, length as m-dash]O] charge transfer character of the near-UV bands to generate a highly reactive [(L⁺) Fe^III-O*] species. The enhancement is not observed with visible/NIR excitation of the d-d absorption bands.