Molecular and electronic structure of terminal and alkali metal-capped uranium(V) nitride complexes

David M. King, Peter A. Cleaves, Ashley J. Wooles, Benedict M. Gardner, Nicholas F. Chilton, Floriana Tuna, William Lewis, Eric J. L. McInnes () and Stephen T. Liddle ()
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David M. King: School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham
Peter A. Cleaves: School of Chemistry, University of Manchester
Ashley J. Wooles: School of Chemistry, University of Manchester
Benedict M. Gardner: School of Chemistry, University of Manchester
Nicholas F. Chilton: School of Chemistry, University of Manchester
Floriana Tuna: School of Chemistry and Photon Science Institute, University of Manchester
William Lewis: School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham
Eric J. L. McInnes: School of Chemistry and Photon Science Institute, University of Manchester
Stephen T. Liddle: School of Chemistry, University of Manchester

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Determining the electronic structure of actinide complexes is intrinsically challenging because inter-electronic repulsion, crystal field, and spin–orbit coupling effects can be of similar magnitude. Moreover, such efforts have been hampered by the lack of structurally analogous families of complexes to study. Here we report an improved method to U≡N triple bonds, and assemble a family of uranium(V) nitrides. Along with an isoelectronic oxo, we quantify the electronic structure of this 5f1 family by magnetometry, optical and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies and modelling. Thus, we define the relative importance of the spin–orbit and crystal field interactions, and explain the experimentally observed different ground states. We find optical absorption linewidths give a potential tool to identify spin–orbit coupled states, and show measurement of UV···UV super-exchange coupling in dimers by EPR. We show that observed slow magnetic relaxation occurs via two-phonon processes, with no obvious correlation to the crystal field.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13773

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