Synthesis, Mössbauer, cyclic voltammetry, magnetic properties and molecular structures of the low-spin iron(III) bis(pyrazine) complexes with the para-fluoro and para-chloro substituted meso-tetraphenylporphyrin

Two new bis(pyrazine) iron(III) meso-porphyrin complexes are reported here: the bis(pyrazine)[5,10,15,20-tetra(para-fluoro-phenyl)porphyrinato]iron(III) triflate; [Fe(TFPP)(pyz)₂]SO₃CF₃ (1) and the bis(pyrazine)[5,10,15,20-tetra(para-chlorophenyl)porphyrinato]iron(III) triflate; [Fe(TClPP)(pyz)₂]SO₃CF₃ (2). The X-ray molecular structures of 1–2 show that the planes of the two pyrazine axial ligands are perpendicular and that the porphyrin macrocycles of these derivatives are very distorted, leading to a short average equatorial iron-pyrrole N atoms distance appropriate for low-spin ferric porphyrinates. The Mössbauer data of 1–2 feature relatively low values of the quadrupole splitting (ΔE_Q ∼ 1.20 mm.s⁻¹) appropriate for low-spin Fe(III) metalloporphyrin with perpendicular orientation of N-donor planar ligands. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility and the magnetization curves have shown that the results for complexes 1–2 confirm the low-spin state of our two-ferric species, while the cyclic voltammetry data show that the half potential [Fe(III)/Fe(II)] values are shifted anodically compared to the β-pyrrole substituted porphyrin octaethylporphyrin with parallel bis(N-donor) planar axial ligands.