Remarkable aspects of unsaturation in trinuclear metal carbonyl clusters: the triiron species Fe3(CO)n (n = 12, 11, 10, 9).

The trinuclear iron carbonyls Fe(3)(CO)(n) (n = 12, 11, 10, 9) have been studied by density functional theory using the B3LYP and BP86 functionals. The experimentally known C(2)(v) isomer of Fe(3)(CO)(12), namely Fe(3)(CO)(10)(mu-CO)(2), is found to be the global minimum below the unbridged D(3)(h) isomer analogous to the known structures for Ru(3)(CO)(12) and Os(3)(CO)(12). The lowest-energy isomer found for Fe(3)(CO)(11) is Fe(3)(CO)(9)(mu(3)-CO)(2) with iron-iron distances in the Fe(3) triangle, suggesting the one double bond (2.460 A by B3LYP and 2.450 A by BP86) and two single bonds (2.623 A by B3LYP and 2.604 A by BP86) required to give each Fe atom the favored 18-electron configuration. Two different higher-energy dibridged structures Fe(3)(CO)(9)(mu(2)-CO)(2) are also found for Fe(3)(CO)(11). The lowest-energy isomer found for Fe(3)(CO)(10) is Fe(3)(CO)(9)(mu(3)-CO) with equivalent iron-iron distances in the Fe(3) ring (2.47 A by B3LYP or BP86). The lowest-energy isomer found for Fe(3)(CO)(9) is Fe(3)(CO)(6)(mu-CO)(3) with distances in the Fe(3) triangle possibly suggesting one single bond (2.618 A by B3LYP and 2.601 A by BP86), one weak double bond (2.491 A by B3LYP and 2.473 A by BP86), and one weak triple bond (2.368 A by B3LYP and 2.343 A by BP86). A higher-lying isomer of Fe(3)(CO)(9), i.e., Fe(3)(CO)(8)(mu-CO), at approximately 21 kcal/mol above the global minimum, has iron-iron distances strongly suggesting two single bonds (2.6 to 2.7 A) and one quadruple bond (2.068 A by B3LYP and 2.103 A by BP86). Wiberg Bond Indices are also helpful in evaluating the iron-iron bond orders.