Making, Breaking, and Elucidating Uranium-Nitrogen Multiple Bonds

Speaker:

Suzanne Bart, professor of inorganic chemistry, Purdue University

 

Description:

Redox active ligands have proven to be versatile frameworks for
transition metals due to their ability to support low-valent metals in
a variety of oxidation states. Our laboratory has demonstrated such
ligands are effective at mediating organometallic and multi-electron
transfer reactions at low-valent uranium centers.  Recently, we have
synthesized tetravalent uranium complexes with reduced
pyridine(diimine) ligands. The electrons stored in these ligands
facilitate multi-electron reactivity, enabling the synthesis of
unprecedented uranium imido [U(NR)x] complexes with unique electronic
structures. Accordingly, these results will be contrasted with
attempts to generate these unique species in the absence of the
redox-active ligand. Full characterization of the multiply bonded
species, including interesting structural parameters, will also be
discussed.