Laser flash photolysis of 5,10,15-tris(pentafluorophenyl)corrole-iron(IV) chlorate or nitrate, prepared from the corresponding chloride, gave a highly reactive iron-oxo transient identified as an iron(V)-oxo species on the basis of its UV-visible spectrum and high reactivity as well as by analogy to photochemical ligand cleavage reactions of related manganese species. The transient was shown to be an oxo transfer agent in a preparative reaction with cis-cyclooctene. Representative rate constants for oxidation reactions by the new transient at ambient temperature were k = 5900 M-1 s-1 for cyclooctene and k = 570 M-1 s-1 for ethylbenzene. The new transient is more than 6 orders of magnitude more reactive with typical organic reductants than expected for an iron(IV)-oxo corrole radical cation and 100 times more reactive than an analogous positively charged iron(IV)-oxo porphyrin radical cation. Slow electron transfer isomerization of ligand iron(V)-oxo species to iron(IV)-oxo ligand radical cations might be important in reactions of porphyrin-iron catalysts in the laboratory and in nature.

Corrole-manganese(V)-oxo intermediates were produced by laser flash photolysis of the corresponding corrole-manganese(IV) chlorate complexes, and the kinetics of their decay reactions in CH2Cl2 and their reactions with organic reductants were studied. The corrole ligands studied were 5,10,15-tris(pentafluorophenyl)corrole (H3TPFC), 5,10,15-triphenylcorrole (H3TPC), and 5,15-bis(pentafluorophenyl)-10-(p-methoxyphenyl)corrole (H3BPFMC). In self-decay reactions and in reactions with substrates, the order of reactivity of (Cor)Mn(V)(O) was TPC > BPFMC > TPFC, which is inverted from that expected based on the electron-demand of the ligands. The rates of reactions of (Cor)Mn(V)(O) were dependent on the concentration of the oxidant and other manganese species, with increasing concentrations of various manganese species resulting in decreasing rates of reactions, and the apparent rate constant for reaction of (TPFC)Mn(V)(O) with triphenylamine was found to display fractional order with respect to the manganese-oxo species. The kinetic results are consistent in part with a reaction model involving disproportionation of (Cor)Mn(V)(O) to give (Cor)Mn(IV) and (Cor)Mn(VI)(O) species, the latter of which is the active oxidant. Alternatively, the results are consistent with oxidation by (Cor)Mn(V)(O) which is reversibly sequestered in non-reactive complexes by various manganese species.

Photo-disproportionation of a bis-corrole diiron(IV) μ-oxo dimer gave a corrole iron(III) species and a corrole iron(V)-oxo species that can be detected and studied in real time. Air oxidation of the corrole iron(III) species regenerated the bis-corrole diiron(IV) μ-oxo dimer, allowing the development of a photo-catalytic method for organic oxidations using molecular oxygen and visible light.

Oxidations of three porphyrin-iron(III) complexes (1) with ferric perchlorate, Fe(ClO 4 ) 3 , in acetonitrile solutions at −40 °C gave metastable porphyrin-iron(IV) diperchlorate complexes (2) that isomerized to known iron(III) diperchlorate porphyrin radical cations (3) when the solutions were warmed to room temperature. The 5,10,15,5,10,15,and 2,3,7,8,12,13,17, systems were studied by UV-visible spectroscopy. Low temperature NMR spectroscopy and effective magnetic moment measurements were possible with the TPP and TMP iron(IV) complexes. Reactions of two corrole systems, 5,10,15-tris(pentafluorophenyl)corrole (TPFC) and 5,15-bis (pentafluorophenyl)-10-p-methoxyphenylcorrole (BPFMC), also were studied. The corrole-iron(IV) chlorides reacted with silver salts to give corrole-iron(IV) complexes. The corrole-iron(IV) nitrate complexes were stable at room temperature. (TPFC)-iron(IV) toslyate, (TPFC)-iron(IV) chlorate, and (BPFMC)-iron(IV) chlorate were metastable and rearranged to their electronic isomers iron(III) corrole radical cations at room temperature. (TPFC)-iron(III) perchlorate corrole radical cation was the only product observed from reaction of the corrole-iron(IV) chloride with silver perchlorate. For the metastable iron(IV) species, the rates of isomerizations to the iron(III) macrocycle radical cation electronic isomers in dilute acetonitrile solutions were relatively insensitive to electron demands of the macrocyclic ligand but reflected the binding strength of the ligand to iron. Kinetic studies at varying temperatures and concentrations indicated that the mechanisms of the isomerization reactions are complex, involving mixed order reactivity.