Unveiling the Dual Nature of the Smallest Aqueous Ferrocene Complex

The structure of the ferrocene-water ((Cp)2Fe:H2O) complex has been characterized by combining state of the art rotational spectroscopy and computational chemistry. Two structures have been retrieved experimentally where water interacts with two distinguished binding sites, the exo Cp π cloud and th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Blanco, Susana, Verde, Andrés, Lopez, Juan Carlos, Yáñez Montero, Manuel, Montero Campillo, M. Merced, Alkorta, Ibon
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/744660
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10486/744660
https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.202500128
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ferrocene
microsolvation
rotational spectroscopy
ab initio
noncovalent interactions
Química
Descripción
Sumario:The structure of the ferrocene-water ((Cp)2Fe:H2O) complex has been characterized by combining state of the art rotational spectroscopy and computational chemistry. Two structures have been retrieved experimentally where water interacts with two distinguished binding sites, the exo Cp π cloud and the planetary-like planar orbit around iron. The spectra of both conformers exhibit significant averaging effects due to the nearly free rotational dynamics of water. This is in good agreement with the exploration of the potential energy surface of (Cp)2Fe:H2O. For water interacting with the exo Cp π cloud, we found three axial conformers giving rise to twenty minima with small internal rotation barriers. Theoretical calculations reveal two minima for the observed equatorial complex. Water interacts with ferrocene quite strongly, exhibiting binding energies above −11 kJ/mol in all binding sites and contributing to small deformations in the structure of bare ferrocene