A new synthetic route to the known tripodal tetradentate N3O ligand L1 (HL1=[N-(3, 5-di-tert- butyl-2-hydroxybenzyl)-N, N-di-(2-pyridylmethyl)] amine) is reported. The related compounds HLn (n= 2, 3) were prepared by a similar procedure. Treatment of HLn (n= 1–3) with FeCl3· 6H2O in hot methanol led to the mononuclear iron (III) complexes [Fe (Ln) Cl2](1: n= 1, 2: n= 2, 3: n= 3). The solid-state structures of complexes 1 and 2 were ...