Electronic Configuration of Five-Coordinate High-Spin Pyrazole-Ligated Iron(II) Porphyrinates

Pyrazole, a neutral nitrogen ligand and an isomer of imidazole, has been used as a fifth ligand to prepare two new species, [Fe(TPP)(Hdmpz)] and [Fe(Tp-OCH3PP)(Hdmpz)] (Hdmpz = 3,5-dimethylpyrazole), the first structurally characterized examples of five-coordinate iron(II) porphyrinates with a nonimidazole neutral ligand. Both complexes are characterized by X-ray crystallography, and structures show common features for five-coordinate iron(II) species, such as an expanded porphyrinato core, large equatorial Fe−Np bond distances, and a significant out-of-plane displacement of the iron(II) atom. The Fe−N(pyrazole) and Fe−Np bond distances are similar to those in imidazole-ligated species. These suggest that the coordination abilities to iron(II) for imidazole and pyrazole are very similar even though pyrazole is less basic than imidazole. Mössbauer studies reveal that [Fe(TPP)(Hdmpz)] has the same behavior as those of imidazole-ligated species, such as negative quadrupole splitting values and relative large asymmetry parameters. Both the structures and the Mössbauer spectra suggest pyrazole-ligated five-coordinate iron(II) porphyrinates have the same electronic configuration as imidazole-ligated species.