4,4'-Di-tert-butyl-6-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-2,2'-bipyridine: modification of a highly selective N-donor ligand for the separation of trivalent actinides from lanthanides.

In the present work, the complexation and extraction behaviour of 4,4'di-tert-butyl-6-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-2,2'-bipyridine (HNbubipy) towards trivalent actinides (An(iii)) and lanthanides (Ln(iii)) is studied by spectroscopic methods, liquid-liquid extraction, and quantum chemical calculations. The ligand synthesis of HNbubipy as well as its application in coordination chemistry of the 4f elements is described. Reaction of HNbubipy with [Ln(NO)·6HO] (Ln = Sm, Eu) results in [HNbubipy][Ln(Nbubipy)(NO)(HO)].

6-(Tetrazol-5-yl)-2,2'-bipyridine: a highly selective ligand for the separation of lanthanides(III) and actinides(III).

The coordination structure in the solid state and solution complexation behavior of 6-(tetrazol-5-yl)-2,2'-bipyridine (HN4bipy) with samarium(III) was investigated as a model system for actinide(III)/lanthanide(III) separations. Two different solid 1:2 complexes, [Sm(N4bipy)2(OH)(H2O)2] (1) and [Sm(N4bipy)2(HCOO)(H2O)2] (2), were obtained from the reaction of samarium(III) nitrate with HN4bipy in isopropyl alcohol, resuspension in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), and slow crystallization. The formate anion coordinated to samarium in 2 is formed by decomposition of DMF to formic acid and dimethylamine.

Rare-Earth-metal methylidene complexes.

Transition-metal carbene complexes have been known for about 50 years and widely applied as reagents and catalysts in organic transformations. In contrast, the carbene chemistry of the rare-earth metals is much less developed, but has attracted the research interest in the recent years. In this field rare-earth-metal alkylidene, especially methylidene, compounds are an emerging class of compounds with a high synthetic potential for organometallic chemistry and maybe in the future also for organic chemistry.

Chiral benzamidinate ligands in rare-earth-metal coordination chemistry.

The treatment of the recently reported potassium salt (S)-N,N'-bis-(1-phenylethyl)benzamidinate ((S)-KPEBA) and its racemic isomer (rac-KPEBA) with anhydrous lanthanide trichlorides (Ln = Sm, Er, Yb, Lu) afforded mostly chiral complexes. The tris(amidinate) complex [{(S)-PEBA}(3)Sm], bis(amidinate) complexes [{Ln(PEBA)(2)(μ-Cl)}(2)] (Ln = Sm, Er, Yb, Lu), and mono(amidinate) compounds [Ln(PEBA)(Cl)(2)(thf)(n)] (Ln = Sm, Yb, Lu) were isolated and structurally characterized. As a result of steric effects, the homoleptic 3:1 complexes of the smaller lanthanide atoms Yb and Lu were not accessible.