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Title: The role of the 5f valence orbitals of early actinides in chemical bonding

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms16053· OSTI ID:1623897
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Karlsruhe Inst. of Technology (KIT) (Germany). Inst. for Nuclear Waste Disposal (INE)
  2. Univ. of North Texas, Denton, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
  3. Univ. Grenoble Alpes (France). Inst. NEEL; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Grenoble (France). Inst. NEEL

One of the long standing debates in actinide chemistry is the level of localization and participation of the actinide 5f valence orbitals in covalent bonds across the actinide series. Here we illuminate the role of the 5f valence orbitals of uranium, neptunium and plutonium in chemical bonding using advanced spectroscopies: actinide M4,5 HR-XANES and 3d4f RIXS. Results reveal that the 5f orbitals are active in the chemical bonding for uranium and neptunium, shown by significant variations in the level of their localization evidenced in the spectra. In contrast, the 5f orbitals of plutonium appear localized and surprisingly insensitive to different bonding environments. We envisage that this report of using relative energy differences between the 5fδ/φ and 5fπ*/5fσ* orbitals as a qualitative measure of overlap-driven actinyl bond covalency will spark activity, and extend to numerous applications of RIXS and HR-XANES to gain new insights into the electronic structures of the actinide elements.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division; Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; VH-NG-734
OSTI ID:
1623897
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 8, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Complexation of An( vi ) with succinic acid in aqueous acid solutions: uranyl vs. plutonyl journal January 2018
Theoretical Modelling of High-Resolution X-Ray Absorption Spectra at Uranium M 4 Edge journal January 2018
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Theoretical studies on the oxidation states and electronic structures of actinide-borides: AnB 12 (An = Th–Cm) clusters journal January 2018
Emergence of the structure-directing role of f-orbital overlap-driven covalency journal February 2019
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Figures / Tables (6)