Shining light on the ferrous analogue: excited state dynamics of an Fe(ii) hexa-carbene scorpionate complex

Abstract

A ferrous complex bearing tris(carbene)borate ligands with imidazol-2-ylidene donors has been characterized by experimental and computational methods. Despite the pronounced destabilization of metal centered states by the exceptionally σ-donating ligand, the high-energy 3MLCT state of [Fe(ii)(phtmeimb)2] is rapidly deactivated by the barrierless conversion to the 3MC state.