Structure of an oxygen-carrying cobalt complex.

Bis(3-fluorosalicylaldehyde) ethylenediimine cobalt(II), a reversible oxygen-carrying compound, has been crystallized as a tetramer with two oxygen molecules bound to the four cobalt atomns, each oxygen molecule bridging between two metal atoms. These dimers are further linked by two bonds between the oxygen atom of the salicylaldehyde and the cobalt atom. The oxygen-to-oxygen distance, 1.21 angstroms in molecular oxygen, has increased to 1.308(28) angstroms (where the number in parentheses is the estimated standard deviation) in this compound, the shortest distance yet observed in sutch a bridging arrangement.