Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance study of dinuclear iron carbonyl xanthate complexes: dynamic behaviour and local scrambling of the carbonyls at one iron atom

A series of compounds of general formula [Fe2(CO)5L(S-alkyl dithiocarbonate)], where L = CO or P(OMe)3, have been studied by 13C n.m.r. to observe their behaviour in solution. Over the temperature range –100 to 50 °C one of the Fe(CO)3 groups was found to be static while the other was fluxional. The site of local scrambling has been identified and the relevant mechanisms discussed.