The crystal structure of trans, trans-3,5-heptadien-2-ol-iron tricarbonyl, (C7H120)Fe(CO)3, the hydrolysate of the syn,syn-l,5-dimethylpentadienyliron tricarbonyl cation, has been determined by singlecrystal X-ray diffraction techniques using three-dimensional data gathered at ca -32°C by counter methods. The irregularly shaped yellow crystals obtained by vacuum sublimation are monoclinic, space group P21/c, and at ca -32°C,a = 16"885 (3), b = 17"831 (3), c= 8-275 (2) A, fl= 111"91 (1) °. At ca -32°C the calculated density for eight formula units of (CTHI20)Fe(CO)3 per unit cell is 1.455 g cm -3, in adequate agreement with the measured value (at 22°C) of 1-430 (1) g cm -3. The structure consists of monomeric (CTH120)Fe(CO)3 molecules linked by hydrogen bonds between the hydroxyl groups. Each Fe atom is coordinated by three CO ligands and the planar butadiene residue of a dimethylpentadienyl moiety. The hydrolysis (yielding the alcohol complex) is stereospecific, giving a racemic mixture of the alcohol with configurations RR and SS. Full-matrix least-squares refinement has converged with a weighted R index (on IFI) of 0"033 for the 2791 symmetry-independent reflections with I0>2"0cr(I0).