Diverse Thermal and Photochemical Reactivity of an Al–Fe Bonded Heterobimetallic Complex

A heterobimetallic Al–Fe complex, LAl­(Me)­Fp (Fp = FeCp­(CO)2, L is a β-diketiminate), was found to have diverse reaction chemistry including cooperative ring-opening of tetrahydrofuran to form LAl­(Me)­O­(CH2)4Fp, atom transfer with propylene sulfide and elemental sulfur to form LAl­(Me)­(μ-S)­Fp, and group transfer with trimethylsilyl azide to form LAl­(Me)­N3. Photodecarbonylation formed [LAl­(Me)]2(CpFeFeCp)­(μ3:η2-CO)2, which features the FeFe bonded [CpFe­(CO)]2 unit that is the unsaturated analogue of well-known Fp2. Despite Al and Fe being the two most earth-abundant metals, this report represents one of the only surveys of the reactivity behavior of an Al/Fe heterobinuclear complex.