Diuranium(IV) Carbide Cluster U2C2 Stabilized Inside Fullerene Cages.

Novel actinide cluster fullerenes, U2C2@Ih(7)-C80 and U2C2@D3h(5)-C78, were synthesized and fully characterized by mass spectrometry, single-crystal X-ray crystallography, UV-vis-NIR, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), Raman spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, as well as density functional and multireference wave function calculations. The encapsulated U2C2 is the first example of a uranium carbide cluster featuring two U centers bridged by a C≡C unit. The U-C bond distances in these U2C2 clusters are in the range between 2.130 and 2.421 Å. While the U2C2 cluster in U2C2@C80 adopts a butterfly-shaped geometry with a U-C2-U dihedral angle of 112.7° and a U-U distance of 3.855 Å, the U-U distance in U2C2@C78 is 4.164 Å and the resulting U-C2-U dihedral angle is increased to 149.1°. The combined experimental and quantum-chemical results suggest that the formal U oxidation state is +4 in the U2C2 cluster, and each U center transfers three electrons to the C2n cage and one electron to C2. Different from the strong U═C covalent bonding reported for U2C@C80, the U-C bonds in U2C2 are less covalent and predominantly ionic. The C-C triple bond is somewhat weaker than in HCCH, and the C-C π bonds undergo donation bonding with the U centers. This work demonstrates that the combination of the unique encapsulation effect of fullerene cages and the variable oxidation states of actinide elements can lead to the stabilization of novel actinide clusters, which are not accessible by conventional synthetic methods.

Th@Td(19151)-C76: A Highly Symmetric Fullerene Cage Stabilized by a Tetravalent Actinide Metal Ion.

For the first time, Th@Td(19151)-C76, a highly symmetric C76 cage encapsulating an actinide metal ion, has been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry, UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. The single-crystal crystallographic analysis unambiguously assigned the fullerene cage as Td(19151)-C76 and confirmed Th@Td(19151)-C76 as the first IPR (isolated-pentagon rule) C76-based monometallofullerene. The crystallographic results further revealed that the optimal Th site resides over a sumanene-type hexagon, similar to that of the Th@C1(11)-C86 but different from the previously reported Th@C3v(8)-C82. In addition, electrochemical study found that Th@Td(19151)-C76 processes an unusually low first oxidation potential (0.03 V), suggesting its strong electron donating ability.

Actinide-lanthanide single electron metal-metal bond formed in mixed-valence di-metallofullerenes.

Understanding metal-metal bonding involving f-block elements has been a challenging goal in chemistry. Here we report a series of mixed-valence di-metallofullerenes, ThDy@C2n (2n = 72, 76, 78, and 80) and ThY@C2n (2n = 72 and 78), which feature single electron actinide-lanthanide metal-metal bonds, characterized by structural, spectroscopic and computational methods. Crystallographic characterization unambiguously confirmed that Th and Y or Dy are encapsulated inside variably sized fullerene carbon cages. The ESR study of ThY@D3h(5)-C78 shows a doublet as expected for an unpaired electron interacting with Y, and a SQUID magnetometric study of ThDy@D3h(5)-C78 reveals a high-spin ground state for the whole molecule. Theoretical studies further confirm the presence of a single-electron bonding interaction between Y or Dy and Th, due to a significant overlap between hybrid spd orbitals of the two metals.