RESUMEN
A series of tetravalent An(IV) complexes with a bis-phenyl ß-ketoiminate N,O donor ligand has been synthesized with the aim of identifying bonding trends and changes across the actinide series. The neutral molecules are homoleptic with the formula An((Ar)acnac)(4) (An = Th (1), U (2), Np (3), Pu (4); (Ar)acnac = ArNC(Ph)CHC(Ph)O; Ar = 3,5-(t)Bu(2)C(6)H(3)) and were synthesized through salt metathesis reactions with actinide chloride precursors. NMR and electronic absorption spectroscopy confirm the purity of all four new compounds and demonstrate stability in both solution and the solid state. The Th, U, and Pu complexes were structurally elucidated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and shown to be isostructural in space group C2/c. Analysis of the bond lengths reveals shortening of the An-O and An-N distances arising from the actinide contraction upon moving from 1 to 2. The shortening is more pronounced upon moving from 2 to 4, and the steric constraints of the tetrakis complexes appear to prevent the enhanced U-O versus Pu-O orbital interactions previously observed in the comparison of UI(2)((Ar)acnac)(2) and PuI(2)((Ar)acnac)(2) bis-complexes. Computational analysis of models for 1, 2, and 4 (1a, 2a, and 4a, respectively) concludes that both the An-O and the An-N bonds are predominantly ionic for all three molecules, with the An-O bonds being slightly more covalent. Molecular orbital energy level diagrams indicate the largest 5f-ligand orbital mixing for 4a (Pu), but spatial overlap considerations do not lead to the conclusion that this implies significantly greater covalency in the Pu-ligand bonding. QTAIM bond critical point data suggest that both U-O/U-N and Pu-O/Pu-N are marginally more covalent than the Th analogues.
RESUMEN
Developments in biochemistry and materials sciences have led to increasing interest in the reactivity of large chemical systems, presenting theoretical and computational challenges that can be addressed with hybrid methods such as ONIOM. Here, we show that the diagonalized ONIOM Hessian can be partitioned/deconstructed into contributions from the individual subcalculations-indicating the curvature of their potential energy surfaces (PESs)-without increasing the computational cost. The resulting pseudofrequencies have particular application in the study of transition structures and higher-order saddle points with ONIOM, where we find that an imaginary frequency may result from combining subcalculations for which the corresponding vibrational frequencies are all real. Two cycloaddition reactions, including functionalization of a 150 atom (5,5) single-walled carbon nanotube, demonstrate how this analysis of pseudofrequencies allows identification of critical points where further exploratory work should be carried out to ensure that the ONIOM PES correctly approximates the target.
RESUMEN
The title compounds are studied with scalar relativistic, gradient-corrected (PBE) and hybrid (PBE0) density functional theory. The metal-Cp centroid distances shorten from ThCp(3) to NpCp(3), but lengthen again from PuCp(3) to CmCp(3). Examination of the valence molecular orbital structures reveals that the highest-lying Cp π(2,3)-based orbitals transform as 1e + 2e + 1a(1) + 1a(2). Above these levels come the predominantly metal-based 5f orbitals, which stabilise across the actinide series such that in CmCp(3) the 5f manifold is at more negative energy than the Cp π(2,3)-based levels. Mulliken population analysis shows metal d orbital participation in the e symmetry Cp π(2,3)-based orbitals. Metal 5f character is found in the 1a(1) and 1a(2) levels, and this contribution increases significantly from ThCp(3) to AmCp(3). This is in agreement with the metal spin densities, which are enhanced above their formal value in NpCp(3), PuCp(3) and especially AmCp(3) with both PBE and PBE0. However, atoms-in-molecules analysis of the electron densities indicates that the An-Cp bonding is very ionic, increasingly so as the actinide becomes heavier. It is concluded that the large metal orbital contributions to the Cp π(2,3)-based levels, and enhanced metal spin densities toward the middle of the actinide series arise from a coincidental energy match of metal and ligand orbitals, and do not reflect genuinely increased covalency (in the sense of appreciable overlap between metal and ligand levels and a build up of electron density in the region between the actinide and carbon nuclei).
