The reaction of iron(ii) perchlorate with the tetraazamacrocyclic ligand N,N'-dimethyl-2,11-diaza[3.3]-(2,6)pyridinophane (L-N 4 Me 2 ) and 3,5-di-tert-butyl-1,2-benzoquinone in 96 % ethanol yields the blue compound Me 2 )(dbsq)](ClO 4 ) 2´2 .5 H 2 O (3 a, dbsq À 3,5-di-tert-butyl-1,2-benzosemiquinonate). On the basis of structural, Mössbauer spectroscopic, and magnetic evidence, this compound was identified as a low-spin iron(iii) semiquinonate complex, the first of its kind, in which the unpaired electron of the coordinated semiquinonate radical is strongly antiferromagnetically coupled with the unpaired electron of the lowspin iron(iii) ion. In acetonitrile solution, Me 2 )(dbsq)] 2 (3) is in equilibrium with uncoordinated dbq and with the low-spin iron(ii) complex ions. Solutions of complex 3 in acetonitrile are found to be stable towards molecular oxygen. In addition, the reaction of the iron(iii) semiquinonate complex 3 with superoxide quantitatively yields the corresponding iron(iii) catecholate complex Me 2 )(dbc)](2). Therefore, the reactivity of 3 with molecular oxygen and with superoxide demonstrates that the correct oxidation states of both the metal ion and the coordinated dioxolene unit are required for the occurrence of the well-established cleavage of the intradiol C ± C bond of 3,5-di-tert-butylcatecholate ligand coordinated to the iron(iii) ion in 2 by molecular oxygen and that the cleavage reaction does not occur through an initial electron-transfer step, resulting in the formation of an iron(iii) semiquinonate as intermediate, but instead by the direct attack of the oxygen molecule on the iron(iii) catecholate moiety.