Bio‐inspired Nonheme Iron Oxidation Catalysis: Involvement of Oxoiron(V) Oxidants in Cleaving Strong C−H Bonds

Iron-oxygen intermediates like iron(III)-hydroperoxo and high-valent iron-oxo species have been trapped and identified in investigations of bio-inspired catalytic nonheme iron systems, with the latter proposed to be the active oxidant for most of these systems. This Review highlights recent spectroscopic and mechanistic advances that have shed light on the pathways that can be accessed by these systems to form high-valent iron-oxo intermediates.