Rate-determining water-assisted O-O bond cleavage of an Fe(III)-OOH intermediate in a bio-inspired nonheme iron-catalyzed oxidation

Hydrocarbon oxidations by bio-inspired nonheme iron catalysts and H2O2 have been proposed to involve an Fe(III)-OOH intermediate that decays via a water-assisted mechanism to form an Fe(V)(O)(OH) oxidant. Herein we report kinetic evidence for this pathway in the oxidation of 1-octene catalyzed by [Fe(II)(TPA)(NCCH3)](2+) (1, TPA = tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine). The (TPA)Fe(III)(OOH) intermediate 2 can be observed at -40 °C and is found to undergo first-order decay, which is accelerated by water. Interestingly, the decay rate of 2 is comparable to that of product formation, indicating that the decay of 2 results in olefin oxidation. Furthermore, the Eyring activation parameters for the decay of 2 and product formation are identical, and both processes are associated with an H2O/D2O KIE of 2.5. Taken together with previous (18)O-labeling data, these results point to a water-assisted heterolytic O-O bond cleavage of 2 as the rate-limiting step in olefin oxidation.