4f bonding

The absenee of 5d eleetrons and the inertness of the lanthanides 4f shell makes n baekbonding energetieally unfavourable and simple earbonyls, for instanee, have only been obtained in argon matriees at 8-12K. On the other hand, essentially ionie eyelopentadienides are well known and an inereasing number of cr-bonded Ln-C eompounds have been produeed (see seetion 30.3.5). 

As to the first route, we started in 1969 (1) in investigating unconventional transition metal complexes of the 5 and 4f block elements of periodic table, e.g., actinides and lanthanides as catalysts for the polymerization of dienes (butadiene and isoprene) with an extremely high cis content. Even a small increase of cistacticity in the vicinity of 100% has an important effect on crystallization and consequently on elastomer processability and properties (2). The f-block elements have unique electronic and stereochemical characteristics and give the possibility of a participation of the f-electrons in the metal ligand bond. 

A predominant feature of the atomic structure of the lanthanide group is the sequential addition of 14 electrons to the 4f subshell (Table 1). The /"electrons do not participate in bond formation and in ordinary aqueous solutions all of the lanthanides exhibit a principal (III) state. The common (III) state confers a similarity in chemical properties to all lanthanide elements. Some of the lanthanides can also exist in the (II) state (Nd, Sm, Eu, Tm, Yh) or in the (IV) state (Ce, Pr, Nd, Tb, Dy). Except for Ce(IV), Eu(II), and Yb(II), these unusual lanthanide oxidation states can only be prepared under drastic redox pressure and temperature conditions, and they are not stable in aqueous solutions. Cerium (IV) is a strong oxidizing agent... 

Quantum chemists have developed considerable experience over the years in inventing new molecules by quantum chemical methods, which in some cases have been subsequently characterized by experimentalists (see, for example, Refs. 3 and 4). The general philosophy is to explore the Periodic Table and to attempt to understand the analogies between the behavior of different elements. It is known that for first row atoms chemical bonding usually follows the octet rule. In transition metals, this rule is replaced by the 18-electron rule. Upon going to lanthanides and actinides, the valence f shells are expected to play a role. In lanthanide chemistry, the 4f shell is contracted and usually does not directly participate in the chemical bonding. In actinide chemistry, on the other hand, the 5f shell is more diffuse and participates actively in the bonding. 

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