Russian Chemical Bulletin, International Edition, Vol. 54, No. 9, pp. 2211—2214, September, 2005 2211 Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 9, pp. 2145—2148, September, 2005. Brief Communications 1066-5285/05/5409-2211 © 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. New antiferromagnetic tetranuclear pivalate complex containing Fe III and Fe II atoms* M. A. Kiskin, a A. A. Sidorov, a G. G. Aleksandrov, a Yu. G. Shvedenkov, b V. N. Ikorskii, b V. M. Novotortsev, a I. L. Eremenko, a and I. I. Moiseev a a N. S. Kurnakov Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 31 Leninsky prosp., 119991 Moscow, Russian Federation. Fax: +7 (495) 955 4835. E-mail: ilerem@igic.ras.ru b International Tomography Center, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 3a ul. Institutskaya, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russian Federation. Fax: +7 (383) 33 1399. E-mail: schved@tomo.nsc.ru The interaction of [K 2 Fe III 4 (O) 2 (OOCCMe 3 ) 10 (HOOCCMe 3 ) 2 (H 2 O) 2 ] n with 2-pyridine- carboxaldehyde results in a mixed-valence complex Fe II Fe III 3 (μ 3 -O) 2 (μ 2 -OOCCMe 3 ) 7 L 2 2.5MeCN3H 2 O (L = 2-NC 5 H 4 COOH 0.75 K 0.25 ). The structure of the complex was estab- lished by X-ray analysis. The magnetic properties of the complex were studied. Key words: iron complexes, X-ray diffraction study, 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde. Heterospin polynuclear coordination compounds are of considerable interest in connection with search for molecular magnetic systems in order to design new-gen- eration electronic devices. 1,2 From this point of view, iron derivatives appear to be convenient materials be- cause they are readily available and cheap. Besides, a distinctive feature of iron pivalate complexes is a high solubility in organic solvents. Heterospin polynuclear iron carboxylates are mainly known in the form of triangular complexes containing both Fe III (S = 5/2) and Fe II (S = 2) atoms in vari- ous ratios. 37 Tetranuclear pivalate complexes with the Fe 4 (μ 3 -O) 2 core comprised of two triangles sharing an edge are only known for iron(III). 8,9 In this work we report on reduction of a tetranuclear dianionic iron(III) oxopivalate complex with 2-pyridine- carboxaldehyde resulting in a complex containing Fe III and Fe II atoms. Results and Discussion Recently, 9 we have shown that dissolution of a polymeric complex [K 2 Fe 4 (O) 2 (OOCCMe 3 ) 10 - (HOOCCMe 3 ) 2 (H 2 O) 2 ] n (1) in MeCN affords the [K(HOOCCMe 3 )(MeCN)] 2 [Fe 4 (O) 2 (OOCCMe 3 ) 10 ] compound (2) containing discrete tetranuclear iron(III) dianions (Scheme 1). * Dedicated to Academician A. L. Buchachenko on the occa- sion of his 70th birthday.