Reaction of Fe(CO)
2(NO)
2 and sparteine/tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA) in tetrahydrofuran afforded the electronparamagnetic resonance (EPR)-silent, neutral {Fe(NO)
2}
10 dinitrosyliron complexes (DNICs) [(sparteine)Fe(NO)
2](
1) and [(TMEDA)Fe(NO)
2] (
2), respectively. The stable and isolable anionic {Fe(NO)
2}
9 DNIC [(S(CH
2)
3S)Fe(NO)
2]
-(
4), with a bidentate alkylthiolate coordinated to a {Fe(NO)
2} motif, was prepared by the reaction of [S(CH
2)
3S]
2-and the cationic {Fe(NO)
2}
9 [(sparteine)Fe(NO)
2]
+ (
3) obtained from the reaction of complex
1 and [NO][BF
4] inCH
3CN. Transformation from the neutral complex
1 to the anionic complex
4 was verified via the cationic complex
3. Here complex
3 acts as an {Fe(NO)
2}-donor reagent in the presence of thiolates. The EPR spectra of complexes
3 and
4 exhibit an isotropic signal with
g = 2.032 and 2.031 at 298 K, respectively, the characteristic
g value of{Fe(NO)
2}
9 DNICs. On the basis of N-O/Fe-N(O) bond lengths of the single-crystal X-ray structures of the {Fe(NO)
2}
9/{Fe(NO)
2}
10 DNICs, the oxidation level of the {Fe(NO)
2} core of DNICs can be unambiguously assigned.The mean N-O distances falling in the range of 1.214(6)-1.189(4) Å and the Fe-N(O) bond distances in therange of 1.650(7)-1.638(3) Å are assigned as the neutral {Fe(NO)
2}
10 DNICs. In contrast, the mean N-O bonddistances ranging from 1.178(3) to 1.160(6) Å and the mean Fe-N(O) bond distances ranging from 1.695(3) to1.661(4) Å are assigned as the anionic/neutral/cationic {Fe(NO)
2}
9 DNICs. In addition, an EPR spectrum incombination with the IR
NO (the relative position of the
NO stretching frequencies and their difference
NO)spectrum may serve as an efficient tool for discrimination of the existence of the anionic/cationic/neutral {Fe(NO)
2}
9 DNICs and the neutral {Fe(NO)
2}
10 DNICs.