An oxo-centred trinuclear FeIII complex: triaquahexakis(mu2-betaine-O:O')-mu3-oxo-triiron(III) bis(tetrachloromanganate) trichloride hexahydrate.
The title compound, [Fe(3)(C(5)H(11)NO(2))(6)O(H(2)O)(3)](MnCl(4))(2)Cl(3).6H(2)O, contains a triiron core linked by a mu(3)-bridging oxide ion. Each of the iron(III) ions has a distorted octahedral environment, being coordinated, in addition to the oxide ion, by four neutral betaine molecules and one water molecule. The N-alkylated alpha-amino acid betaine is present in the dipolar zwitterionic form and chelates pairs of Fe atoms at the vertices of the triangular [Fe(3)O](7+) ionic core. The Fe complex has a crystallographically imposed D3 symmetry. The water molecules fully exhaust their potential as hydrogen donors, forming a two-dimensional hydrogen-bond network in planes parallel to (001).