skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Protactinium and the intersection of actinide and transition metal chemistry

Journal Article · · Nature Communications

The role of the 5f and 6d orbitals in the chemistry of the actinide elements has been of considerable interest since their discovery and synthesis. Relativistic effects cause the energetics of the 5f and 6d orbitals to change as the actinide series is traversed left to right imparting a rich and complex chemistry. The 5f and 6d atomic states cross in energy at protactinium (Pa), making it a potential intersection between transition metal and actinide chemistries. Herein, we report the synthesis of a Pa-peroxo cluster, A6Pa4O(O2)6F12 [A = Rb, Cs, (CH3)4N], formed in pursuit of an actinide polyoxometalate. Quantum chemical calculations at the density functional theory level demonstrate equal 5f and 6d orbital participation in the chemistry of Pa and increasing 5f orbital participation for the heavier actinides. Periodic changes in orbital character to the bonding in the early actinides highlights the influence of the 5f orbitals in their reactivity and chemical structure.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1426227
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 21 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (55)

Balanced basis sets of split valence, triple zeta valence and quadruple zeta valence quality for H to Rn: Design and assessment of accuracy journal January 2005
Metal–ligand multiple bonding in uranium: structure and reactivity journal January 2010
An aqueous route to [Ta6O19]8– and solid-state studies of isostructural niobium and tantalum oxide complexes journal January 2007
Effect of spin-orbit coupling on the actinide dioxides AnO 2 (An=Th, Pa, U, Np, Pu, and Am): A screened hybrid density functional study journal October 2012
Crystal structure of bis(tetraethylammonium) oxopentachloroprotactinate(V) journal January 1972
A Rare Tetranuclear Thorium(IV) μ 4 -Oxo Cluster and Dinuclear Thorium(IV) Complex Assembled by Carbon-Oxygen Bond Activation of 1,2-Dimethoxyethane (DME) journal November 2014
The performance of density functional theory for the description of ground and excited state properties of inorganic and organometallic uranium compounds journal February 2018
Energy-consistent pseudopotentials and correlation consistent basis sets for the 5d elements Hf–Pt journal April 2009
A short history of SHELX journal December 2007
Elucidating Protactinium Hydrolysis: The Relative Stabilities of PaO 2 (H 2 O) + and PaO(OH) 2 + journal July 2015
First Structural Characterization of a Protactinium(V) Single Oxo Bond in Aqueous Media journal December 2005
Synthesis of Imido Analogs of the Uranyl Ion journal December 2005
Covalency hinders AnO 2 (H 2 O) + → AnO(OH) 2 + isomerisation (An = Pa–Pu) journal January 2016
Probing the Reactivity of the Ce═O Multiple Bond in a Cerium(IV) Oxo Complex journal May 2016
Multinuclear NMR Investigations of the Oxygen, Water, and Hydroxyl Environments in Sodium Hexaniobate journal May 2004
Identification of the Formal +2 Oxidation State of Plutonium: Synthesis and Characterization of {Pu II [C 5 H 3 (SiMe 3 ) 2 ] 3 } journal March 2017
Energy-consistent relativistic pseudopotentials and correlation consistent basis sets for the 4d elements Y–Pd journal March 2007
Synthesis and Characterization of a Uranium(II) Monoarene Complex Supported by δ  Backbonding journal May 2014
Toward reliable density functional methods without adjustable parameters: The PBE0 model journal April 1999
Harnessing redox activity for the formation of uranium tris(imido) compounds journal July 2014
Elucidating bonding preferences in tetrakis(imido)uranate(VI) dianions journal April 2017
Peroxo complexes of niobium(V) and tantalum(V) journal October 2006
Synthesis and Structural Characterization of the First Uranium Cluster Containing an Isopolyoxometalate Core journal September 2001
COSMO: a new approach to dielectric screening in solvents with explicit expressions for the screening energy and its gradient journal January 1993
Recent developments in actinide–ligand multiple bonding journal January 2013
The Renaissance of Non-Aqueous Uranium Chemistry journal June 2015
A fast and robust algorithm for Bader decomposition of charge density journal June 2006
Synthesis and Properties of a Fifteen-Coordinate Complex: The Thorium Aminodiboranate [Th(H3BNMe2BH3)4] journal March 2010
Covalency in f-element complexes journal January 2013
Bent cis d0 MoO22+ vs. linear trans d0f0 UO22+: a significant role for nonvalence 6p orbitals in uranyl journal September 1980
Reliable Potential Energy Surfaces for the Reactions of H 2 O with ThO 2 , PaO 2 + , UO 2 2+ , and UO 2 + journal November 2015
Clusters of Actinides with Oxide, Peroxide, or Hydroxide Bridges journal October 2012
The Preparation of Some Protactinium Compounds and the Metal 1 journal December 1954
NBO 6.0 : Natural bond orbital analysis program journal March 2013
Does Covalency Increase or Decrease across the Actinide Series? Implications for Minor Actinide Partitioning journal June 2012
Theoretical Studies on Hexanuclear Oxometalates [M 6 L 19 ] q (M = Cr, Mo, W, Sg, Nd, U). Electronic Structures, Oxidation States, Aromaticity, and Stability journal July 2015
Covalency in the uranyl ion: A polarized x-ray spectroscopic study journal November 2002
Isolation and characterization of a uranium(VI)–nitride triple bond journal May 2013
Synthesis, Structure, and Reactivity of a Tetranuclear Cerium(IV) Oxo Cluster Supported by the Kläui Tripodal Ligand [Co(η 5 -C 5 H 5 ){P(O)(OEt) 2 } 3 ] journal September 2015
Structural and Spectroscopic Studies of Fluoroprotactinates journal January 2014
Towards a first principles prediction of p K a : COSMO-RS and the cluster-continuum approach journal February 2010
Valence basis sets for relativistic energy-consistent small-core actinide pseudopotentials journal January 2003
Synthesis and Structure of a Terminal Uranium Nitride Complex journal June 2012
Segmented contraction scheme for small-core actinide pseudopotential basis sets journal March 2004
All-electron and relativistic pseudopotential studies for the group 1 element polarizabilities from K to element 119 journal March 2005
Synthesis and Characterization of a Uranium(II) Monoarene Complex Supported by δ  Backbonding journal May 2014
Multinuclear NMR Investigations of the Oxygen, Water, and Hydroxyl Environments in Sodium Hexaniobate journal July 2004
First Structural Characterization of a Protactinium(V) Single Oxo Bond in Aqueous Media. journal February 2006
Taking a snapshot of the triplet excited state of an OLED organometallic luminophore using X-rays journal May 2020
Synthesis and Structural Characterization of the First Uranium Cluster Containing an Isopolyoxometalate Core journal September 2001
Synthesis and Properties of a Fifteen-Coordinate Complex: The Thorium Aminodiboranate [Th(H3BNMe2BH3)4] journal March 2010
ChemInform Abstract: Does Covalency Increase or Decrease Across the Actinide Series? Implications for Minor Actinide Partitioning. journal April 2013
Investigations on the E/Z-isomerism of neonicotinoids journal July 2020
Structural dynamics of basaltic melt at mantle conditions with implications for magma oceans and superplumes journal September 2020
Quantification of f-element covalency through analysis of the electron density: insights from simulation journal January 2017

Cited By (5)

Relativistic quantum chemical calculations show that the uranium molecule U2 has a quadruple bond journal October 2018
Theoretical studies on the oxidation states and electronic structures of actinide-borides: AnB 12 (An = Th–Cm) clusters journal January 2018
Carbon monoxide activation by atomic thorium: ground and excited state reaction pathways journal January 2019
Theoretical prediction of some layered Pa 2 O 5 phases: structure and properties journal January 2019
New Strategies in Modeling Electronic Structures and Properties with Applications to Actinides text January 2019


Similar Records

The Uranium-Containing and Thorium-Containing Anions Studied by Photoelectron Spectroscopy
Technical Report · Fri Jan 19 00:00:00 EST 2024 · OSTI ID:1426227

The discovery of plutonium reorganized the periodic table and aided the discovery of new elements
Conference · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2009 · OSTI ID:1426227

Final Technical Report
Technical Report · Tue May 22 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · OSTI ID:1426227