The 2-pyridinehydrazones (from condensation of pyridine-2-carbaldehyde and hydrazines) have previously been noted to have poor ligating ability as a result of a sterically demanding planar conformation. Destabilisation of this conformation is achieved through simple use of the ketohydrazones, and as a result the diamagnetic chiral tris-bidentate diimine complexes fac-[FeL3] 2+ are readily isolated. In the solid state, inter-ligand π–π stacking and complex ...
