Over the past two decades, the field of amine borane dehydrogenation has received substantial attention, with numerous main group, transition metal and lanthanide metal compounds that serve as catalysts. Interestingly, reactions with the actinides have been ignored. We have discovered that the simple organoactinide compounds, (C5Me5) 2AnMe2 (An = Th, U), are pre–catalysts for the dehydrogenation of several alkyl-substituted amine boranes, with the corresponding actinide hydride compounds producing metrics that show them to be among the fastest catalysts reported for these reactions. In contrast, the corresponding chemistry between (C5Me5) 2AnMe2 and NH3BH3 is slow, and results in the formation of (C5Me5) 2An(η1–H3B–NH2) (η2–H3B– NH2) . This structural motif is unique for actinide, transition metal and main group chemistry. In this talk, we will discuss the details of this chemistry, including mechanistic insights provided from experiment and theoretical calculations.

Debbie Crans, bio-inorganic chemistry, and an actinide connection

2019 Spring National Meeting

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