The Chem. Sci. journal features on its front cover of the November 2025 issue the research article “Mimicking sMMOH chemistry: trapping the Sc3+-bound nonheme FeIII–O–O–FeIII adduct prior to its conversion into an FeIV2(m-O)2 core” by Prof Marcel Swart in collaboration with  Prof. Lawrence Que (University of Minnesota).

Di-iron systems that activate O₂ to form high-valent, oxo-bridged Fe^IV₂ or Fe^IIIFe^IV products are of great interest to bio-inorganic chemists due to their relevance to the chemistry of soluble methane mono-oxygenase (sMMOH), which incorporates both atoms of O₂ gas into a diiron(IV) complex with an Fe₂O₂ diamond core. In this study, the ²⁺ adduct (Me₃NTB = tris((1-methyl-1H-benzoimidazole-2-yl)methyl)amine) reacts with two Sc³⁺ to break the O–O bond that in turn forms the target Fe^IV(m-O)₂Fe^IV product. This study provides the first evidence that a Lewis acid can interact directly with a diferric-peroxo complex to initiate O–O bond cleavage, as evidenced via vibrational and X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

The corresponding paper was published recently:

Patrick M. Crossland, Bittu Chandra, Saikat Banerjee, Chase S. Abelson, Yisong Guo, Marcel Swart, Lawrence Que
Mimicking sMMOH chemistry: trapping the Sc³⁺ -bound nonheme Fe^III –O–O–Fe^III adduct prior to its conversion into an Fe^IV ₂ (m-O)₂ core
Chem. Sci., 2025, 16, 19608-19613
DOI: 10.1039/d5sc05667e

Girona, November 19th, 2025
For more info: ges.iqcc@udg.edu