Mechanistic investigation of cyclohexane oxidation by a non-heme iron complex: evidence of product inhibition by UV/vis stopped-flow studies.

We report herein studies examining a binuclear non-heme iron model complex that is capable of catalytically oxidizing cyclohexane to cyclohexanol in excess of 200 turnovers, relative to the iron complex, and cyclohexanone (5 turnovers) via heterolytic cleavage of the mechanistic probe peroxide MPPH. Low-temperature stopped-flow electronic spectroscopy was utilized to investigate the mechanism of the reaction of this diiron(II) compound, Fe(2)(H(2)Hbamb)(2)(N-MeIm)(2), (H(2)Hbamb = 2,3-bis(2-hydroxybenzamido)dimethylbutane) (1) with MPPH. In the absence of substrates, the reaction proceeds in three consecutive steps starting with oxygen atom transfer to the diferrous complex to generate a putative [Fe(IV)=O species], thought to be the oxidant in the catalytic cycle. Over time, the rate of catalysis is observed to decrease without consumption of all available peroxide. By utilizing low-temperature stopped-flow UV/vis kinetic studies, the diferrous complex, 1, is shown to undergo product inhibition arising from the interaction of either cyclohexanol or MPP-OL product species to the diiron center, therefore precluding further reaction with MPPH.