Molybdenum-Iron-Sulfur Clusters of Nuclearities Eight and Sixteen, Including a Topological Anglogue of the P-Cluster of Nitrogenase

摘要

TransfornIations of the edge-bridged double cubane cluster [(C4cat)2(Et3PhMo2Fe6S8(PEt3)4] (1) under reducing conditions have been investigated as synthetic approaches to the clusters of nitrogenase. Cluster 1 is a versatile precursor to different Mo-Fe-S cluster types. The reaction system 1/K(Cl~IO) in THF yields the reduced cluster [(C4cat)2(Et3P)2MD2Fe6S8(PEt3)4]1- (2), which as its crystalline E4N+ salt retains the edge-bridged structure of 1. X-ray structural and Mossbauer spectroscopic results indicate an unsymmetrical electron distribution with localized [MoFe3S4]2+.1+ cubane-type units. The system 1/2K(C14H1o)/2HS- in THF/acetonitrile affords [(CI4cat)4(Et3P)Mo~eI2S20K3(DMF)]5- (3), whose strUcture was determined as the Ph3PMe+ salt. The cluster consists of two isostructural MD2Fe6S9 fragments connected by tWo .u2-S bridges. Three potassium ions are bound between the two fragments. In each fragment, the iron atoms are present in tetrahedral FeS4 and the molybdenum atoms in octahedral MOO2PS3 coordination units, and tWo MoFe3(.u3-S)3 cuboidal units are bridged by a common .u6-S atom. The fragments have idealizedrnirror symmetry and are isostructural with two of the fragments present in the previously reported high-nuclearity cluster [(C4cat)6(Et3P)6Mo6Fe20S30]8- (4) (Osterloh, F.; Sanakis, y~ Staples, R. I.; Mtinck, E.; Holm, R. H.Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1999, 38, 2066). On the basis of ovetalf shape, atom connectivities, and metric features, the Mo2Fe6S9 fragment is a topological analogue of the P-cluster of nitrogenase in the pN (reduced) state. A third cluster type, fornIed as a minor byproduct in the reaction system leading to 2, was crystallographically identified as [(C4cat)2(Et3P)2Mo2Fe6S8(PEt3)4]4-, whose core is made up of two MoFe3(.u3-S)3 cuboidal units bridged by two .u2-S atoms and connected by a direct Fe-Fe bond. Full structural details and the re~ox properties of 2 and 3 are reported.