In 1944, Glenn Seaborg formulated the 'actinide concept' of heavy element electronic structure that predicted that actinide elements would form a transition series marked by the filling of electrons into the 5f shell. Whether the 5f-electrons in actinide molecules, compounds, metals, and some alloys are involved in chemical bonding has been a central and integrating focus for the fields of actinide chemistry and physics. I will discuss fundamental studies aimed at understanding the molecular and electronic structure of the light actinide elements from U - Cm, that make use of systematic trends revealed through a variety of spectroscopic techniques and electronic structure calculations to probe the nature of chemical bonding. While these studies provide many new insights into the relative roles of 5f and 6d orbitals in actinide metal-ligand bonds, they often highlight the enigmatic nature of the actinide elements, and underscore the need for deeper understanding.

Award Address (Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry sponsored by the ACS Division of Nuclear Chemistry & Technology). Bonding trends across the actinide series

253rd National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.