Protactinium and the intersection of actinide and transition metal chemistry

Richard E. Wilson (), Stephanie Sio and Valérie Vallet ()
Additional contact information
Richard E. Wilson: Argonne National Laboratory
Stephanie Sio: Argonne National Laboratory
Valérie Vallet: UMR 8523 - PhLAM - Physique des Lasers Atomes et Molécules

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The role of the 5f and 6d orbitals in the chemistry of the actinide elements has been of considerable interest since their discovery and synthesis. Relativistic effects cause the energetics of the 5f and 6d orbitals to change as the actinide series is traversed left to right imparting a rich and complex chemistry. The 5f and 6d atomic states cross in energy at protactinium (Pa), making it a potential intersection between transition metal and actinide chemistries. Herein, we report the synthesis of a Pa-peroxo cluster, A6(Pa4O(O2)6F12) [A = Rb, Cs, (CH3)4N], formed in pursuit of an actinide polyoxometalate. Quantum chemical calculations at the density functional theory level demonstrate equal 5f and 6d orbital participation in the chemistry of Pa and increasing 5f orbital participation for the heavier actinides. Periodic changes in orbital character to the bonding in the early actinides highlights the influence of the 5f orbitals in their reactivity and chemical structure.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-02972-z Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-02972-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-02972-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().