Synthesis and characterization of trinuclear iron(II) and manganese(II) carboxylate complexes : structural trends in low valent iron and manganese carboxylates

Reaction of Fe(O 2 CCH 3 ) 2 or Mn(O 2 CCH 3 ) 2 .4H 2 O) with bidentate nitrogen donor ligands affords the trinuclear complexes [M 3 (O 2 CCH 3 ) 6 L 2 ] [M=Fe, L=BIPhMe (1) ; M=Mn, L=BiPhMe (2) or, 1,10-phenanthroline (3)] in high yields. As judged from X-ray diffraction studies, these complexes adopt a novel linear structure, with one monodentate and two bidentate bridging carboxylates spanning each pair of metal atoms.