Chiral effects at the metal center in Fe(III) spin crossover coordination salts

Abstract

Evidence of chirality was observed at the Fe metal center in Fe(III) spin crossover coordination salts [Fe(qsal)2][Ni(dmit)2] and [Fe(qsal)2](TCNQ)2 from x-ray absorption (XAS) spectroscopy at the Fe 2p3/2 core threshold. Based on the circularly polarized XAS data, the x-ray natural circular dichroism for [Fe(qsal)2][Ni(dmit)2] and [Fe(qsal)2](TCNQ)2 is far stronger than seen for [Fe(qsal)2]Cl suggesting this natural circular dichroism signature is a ligand effect rather than a result of just a loss of octahedral symmetry on the Fe core. The larger the chiral effects in the Fe 2p core to bound XAS, the greater the perturbation of the Fe 2p3/2 to 2p1/2 spin-orbit splitting seen in the XAS spectra.