Triethyl-ammonium hexa-μ(2)-acetato-κO:O'-diacetato-κO-aqua-μ(3)-oxido-triferrate(III) toluene monosolvate.

The title compound, (C(6)H(16)N)[Fe(3)(CH(3)CO(2))(8)O(H(2)O)]·C(7)H(8), was serendipitously crystallized from a reaction of disilanol with iron(II) acetate. The trinuclear acetatoferrate(III) anion has a triethyl-ammonium cation as the counterion. The three Fe atoms lie on the vertices of a regular triangle and are octa-hedrally coordinated. The complete coordination of the anion includes shared ligands among the three metal ions: a central tribridging O atom and six bidentate bridging acetyl groups. The six-coordinations of two of the metal ions are completed by a monodentate acetate ligand, whereas that of the third metal ion is completed by a water mol-ecule. The uncoordinated triethyl-ammonium cation is involved in N-H⋯O hydrogen bonding to a singly coordinated acetyl group. The coordinated aqua mol-ecule is involved in bifurcated O-H⋯O hydrogen bonding. C-H⋯O inter-actions are also observed. The toluene solvent molecule is disordered over two sets of sites in a 0.609 (11):0.391 (11) ratio.