Double α,α CH bond insertion into sp3 CH2 moiety: synthesis of a Fe carbene bis-hydride dinitrogen complex

Reduction of high spin paramagnetic complex [(κ2-P, P'-PCH2PCy)FeCl2] 2 by two electrons under N2 resulted in the formation of two isomeric low spin diamagnetic complexes 3trans and 3cis [Fe(κ3-P,C,P'-PCPCy)(H)2(N2)]. Cristallization allowed isolation of complex 3d [Fe(κ3-P,C,P'-PCPCy)(H)2]2(μ-N2), characterized by X-ray diffraction, Mössbauer and Raman spectroscopies. DFT calculations rationalized the facile double α,α CH bond insertion into a single sp3 CH2 moiety, as well as the fast exchange positions of the hydrides in the cis dihydride complex observed by NMR spectrocscopy.