Electron transfer reactions of iron(III)-polypyridyl complexes with organic sulfoxides

The redox reactions of four iron(III)-polypyridyl complexes with six aryl methyl sulfoxides have been investigated by spectrophotometric technique. The reaction follows clean second order kinetics and proceeds through rate determining electron transfer (ET) from organic sulfoxides to iron(III). The Marcus cross-reaction relation has been applied to obtain the self exchange rate constant for the ArSOR/ArSradical dot+(O)R couple as 1.3×107 M−1 s−1. The application of Marcus theory to this ET reaction shows that the contribution of inner sphere reorganization energy is 0.4 eV. The rate constant and reaction constant values observed with organic sulfoxides are small compared with organic sulfides towards the same oxidant Fe(NN)33+.