Isolation and Characterization of a Tetramethyliron(III) Ferrate: An Intermediate in the Reduction Pathway of Ferric Salts with MeMgBr

While iron-catalyzed Kumada cross-coupling reactions with simple iron salts have been known since the early 1970s, the nature of the in situ-formed iron species remains elusive. Herein, we report the synthesis of the homoleptic tetralkyl­iron­(III) ferrate complex [MgCl­(THF)5]­[FeMe4] from the reaction of FeCl3 with MeMgBr in THF. Upon warming, this distorted square-planar S = 3/2 species converts to the S = 1/2 species originally observed by Kochi and co-workers with concomitant formation of ethane, consistent with its intermediacy in the reduction pathway of FeCl3 to generate the reduced iron species involved in catalysis.