N 2 Reduction and Hydrogenation to Ammonia by a Molecular Iron-Potassium Complex
- 11 November 2011
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 334 (6057), 780-783
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1211906
Abstract
The most common catalyst in the Haber-Bosch process for the hydrogenation of dinitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) is an iron surface promoted with potassium cations (K+), but soluble iron complexes have neither reduced the N-N bond of N2 to nitride (N3–) nor produced large amounts of NH3 from N2. We report a molecular iron complex that reacts with N2 and a potassium reductant to give a complex with two nitrides, which are bound to iron and potassium cations. The product has a Fe3N2 core, implying that three iron atoms cooperate to break the N-N triple bond through a six-electron reduction. The nitride complex reacts with acid and with H2 to give substantial yields of N2-derived ammonia. These reactions, although not yet catalytic, give structural and spectroscopic insight into N2 cleavage and N-H bond-forming reactions of iron.Keywords
This publication has 62 references indexed in Scilit:
- Climbing Nitrogenase: Toward a Mechanism of Enzymatic Nitrogen FixationAccounts of Chemical Research, 2009
- Predicting Catalysis: Understanding Ammonia Synthesis from First-Principles CalculationsThe Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2006
- A Tetrahedrally Coordinated L3Fe−Nx Platform that Accommodates Terminal Nitride (FeIV⋮N) and Dinitrogen (FeI−N2−FeI) LigandsJournal of the American Chemical Society, 2004
- Low-Coordinate Iron(II) Amido Complexes of β-Diketiminates: Synthesis, Structure, and ReactivityInorganic Chemistry, 2004
- The First Structural Characterisation of a Group 2 Metal Alkylperoxide Complex: Comments on the Cleavage of Dioxygen by Magnesium Alkyl ComplexesChemistry – A European Journal, 2003
- Molecular Structure of an Fe(IV) Species: {[Fe(TTP)]2N}SbCl6Inorganic Chemistry, 2000
- μ‐Nitridodiiron Complexes with Asymmetric [FeIVN‐FeIII]4+ and Symmetric [FeIVNFeIV]5+ Structural ElementsAngewandte Chemie, 1995
- Utilizing the Evans method with a superconducting NMR spectrometer in the undergraduate laboratoryJournal of Chemical Education, 1992
- Metal-metal interactions involving metalloporphyrins. III. Conversion of tetraphenylporphinatoiron(III) azide to an N-bridged hemin dimerJournal of the American Chemical Society, 1976
- Tetrahydrofuran complexes of transition metal chloridesJournal of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry, 1962