Oxoiron(V) Complexes of Relevance in Oxidation Catalysis of Organic Substrates

The selective oxidation of alkane and olefin moieties are reactions of fundamental importance in both chemical synthesis and biology. Nature efficiently catalyzes the oxidation of hydrocarbons using iron-dependent enzymes, which operate through the mediation of oxoiron(IV) or oxoiron(V) species. In the quest for chemo, regio and stereoselective transformations akin to those taking place in nature, bioinspired iron catalysts have been developed and understanding their mechanism of action has become a particularly relevant area of research. While a prominent advance in the preparation and characterization of oxoiron(IV) species has been accomplished, oxoiron(V) species remain exceedingly rare, presumably because the high reactivity that makes them particularly interesting also makes them difficult to observe. This review summarizes the advances in the field, focusing in synthetic systems for which the oxoiron(V) species relevant in these transformations have been directly detected and spetroscopically characterized.