Because of the presence of an Fe-0-Fe centre in an number of enzymes, eg the purple acid phosphatases and methane monooxygenase,' the roles of these centres is a matter of considerable debate (see, for example, ref. 2) and, in this connection, numerous model compounds which contain an Fe-0-Fe unit have been synthesised and ~tudied.33~ However, apart from those investigations into the oxidation of alkanes by reagents such as dioxygen5 and tert-butyl ...