Amide functionality on ligand backbone tunes the enantioselective oxygenation of sulphide by chiral nonheme iron(IV)-oxo species.

Chiral non-heme iron(IV)-oxo complexes supported by amide-containing PDP (N,N'-bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)-2,2'-bipyrrolidine) ligands were generated from their iron(II) precursors and characterised spectroscopically. The role of the amide functionality in tuning the stability of high-valent iron oxo complexes and in influencing asymmetric oxygen atom transfer reactions is demonstrated.