Heavy actinide chemistry is a notoriously difficult area to tread due to limitations in material availability and inherent radiation hazards.  One means of making this chemistry more accessible is to couple thermodynamic measurements, that can be accomplished on the radiotracer scale, with computational studies that can aid in structural and electronic interpretation of thermodynamic data. Recent examinations of trans-curium actinide chemistry have observed covalency in actinide interactions can become more relevant with increasing atomic number. This presentation will consider the complexation thermodynamics for various ligands with the Cm through Es actinides to understand how the increased covalency in these systems could lead to changes in complex strength.  Einsteinum investigations are of particular interest since Es stability constants only exist for approximately ten systems. Of these systems, Es complexation has been previously considered with relatively facile ligands such as hydroxide, chloride, sulfate, citric acid, 18-crown-6, etc. Changes in actinide complexation thermodynamics and computational modeling are then correlated to  covalency signatures arising from other experimental techniques.

Heavy actinide complexation thermodynamics: Chemical signatures arising from limited materials

254th National Meeting (2017)

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