Rare Examples of Fe(IV) Alkyl-Imide Migratory Insertions: Impact Fe-C Covalency in (Me2IPr)Fe(=NAd)R2 (R = neoPe, 1-nor)

The iron(IV) imide complexes, (Me2IPr)-R2Fe=NAd (R = (neo)Pe (3a), 1-nor (3b)) undergo migratory insertion to iron(II) amides (Me2IPr)RFe{NR-(Ad)} (R = (neo)Pe (4a), 1-nor (4b)) without evidence of imidyl or free nitrene character. By increasing the field strength about iron, odd-electron reactivity was circumvented via increased covalency.