Separating heavy elements from one another is one of the biggest challenges of nuclear waste management. Because actinide atomic radii get smaller when moving from left to right across the actinide series, metal-ligand bond lengths in actinide complexes usually decrease with increasing atomic number. In addition to the ligand-to-metal charge transfer, there could also be additional interactions, i.e. from the metal back to the ligand (back-donation) that could also affect the An–L strength and impact the actinide contraction trend. In this talk, we will show the various types of the An–L interactions of an actinide center with a varying number of carbon atoms constituting the ligand that lead to unique chemical bonding motifs. We will also demonstrate how certain bonding patterns may be invoked that can promote enhanced An–L covalent interactions in An(IV) compounds, which hold potential implication in nuclear separation chemistry.

Ligand-to-metal and metal-to-ligand charge transfer in an(IV) molecular compounds

ACS Spring 2022

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