Actinide halides syntheses

The lanthanide and actinide halides remain an exceedingly active area of research since 1980 they have been cited in well over 2500 Chemical Abstracts references, with the majority relating to the lanthanides. Lanthanide and actinide halide chemistry has also been reviewed numerous times. The binary lanthanide chlorides, bromides, and iodides were reviewed in this series (Haschke 1979). In that review, which included trihalides (RX3), tetrahalides (RX4), and reduced halides (RX , n < 3), preparative procedures, structural interrelationships, and thermodynamic properties were discussed. Hydrated halides and mixed metal halides were discussed to a lesser extent. The synthesis of scandium, yttrium and the lanthanide trihalides, RX3, where X = F, Cl, Br, and I, with emphasis on the halide hydrates, solution chemistry, and aspects related to enthalpies of solution, were reviewed by Burgess and Kijowski (1981). The binary lanthanide fluorides and mixed fluoride systems, AF — RF3 and AFj — RF3, where A represents the group 1 and group 2 cations, were reviewed in a subsequent Handbook (Greis and Haschke 1982). That review emphasized the close relationship of the structures of these compounds to that of fluorite. 

Oxidative addition of organic halides to low-valent metal complexes generates reactive metal alkyls that can then be used in insertion, coupling, carbonylation-decar-bonylation and cyclization reactions for organic synthesis. These transformations can be made catalytic after development of the stoichiometric chemistry using the more stable metal alkyls. This section surveys the reactions of alkyl, aryl and acyl halides with transition metal complexes of the groups IIIA (lanthanides and actinides), IVA-VIII and IB. 

The synthesis of lanthanide and actinide compounds was the subject of a book (Meyer and Morss 1991). Detailed information is given on the synthesis of lanthanide fluorides (Muller 1991), binary lanthanide halides, RX3 (X=Cl,Br,l) (Meyer 1991a), complex lanthanide(in) chlorides, bromides and iodides (Meyer 1991b), and on two alternative routes to reduced halides, the conproportionation route (Corbett 1991) and the action of alkaU metals on lanthanide(lll) halides (Meyer and Schleid 1991). Therefore, a brief outline of the main preparative routes and synthetic strat es might be sufficent. 

Meyer, G., and Th. Schleid, 1991, Action of alkali metals on lanthanide(III) halides an alternative to the conproportionation route to reduced lanthanide halides, in Synthesis of Lanthanide and Actinide Compounds, eds G. Meyer and L.R. Morss (Kluwer, Dordrecht) p. 175. 

The synthesis of lanthanide and actinide compounds is the topic of a book edited by Meyer and Morss (1991). Topics that relate to halides, with the author(s) in brackets, include Lanthanide fluorides [B.G. Muller], Actinide fluorides [N.P. Freestone], Binary lanthanide(III) halides, RX3, X = Cl, Br, and I [G. Meyer], Complex lan-thanide(III) chlorides, bromides and iodides [G. Meyer], Conproportionation routes to reduced lanthanide halides [J.D. Corbett], and Action of alkali metals on lanthanide(III) halides an alternative to the conproportionation route to reduced lanthanide halides [G. Meyer and T. Schleid]. Meyer and Meyer (1992) reviewed lanthanide halides in which the valence of the lanthanide was considered unusual, with unusual being defined as compounds in which the localized valence of an atom differs from its oxidation number. A metallic halide such as Lalj [oxidation number (0)= -1-2 valence (V)= -l-3, since the 5d electron is delocalized in the conduction band] or a semiconducting halide such as PrjBtj (O = -t- 2.5 V = -I- 3) is unusual by this definition, but Tmlj (O = -1-2 V = +2) is not. In this review synthesis, properties, and calculated electronic structures are considered with emphasis on praseodymium halides and hydrogen intercalation into lanthanide dihalides and monohalides . 

A much more widely used synthetic method entails the metathetical exchange reaction between alkali metal aryloxides and the metal halide. This procedure has been applied to the synthesis of lanthanide, actinide, and d-block metal aryloxides as well as derivatives of the main group metals (Eqs 6.23, 6.24, ° 6.25, " 6.26, 6.27, 6.28, 6.29, and 6.30 ° ). 

Actinides. Monocyclopentadienyl derivatives are less common and the majority of the reported complexes are Lewis-base adducts of the type CpAnXs-Ln (X = halide). Their steric and electronic unsaturation make their synthesis challenging. The first CpUCl3 2L compounds in ethereal solvents (DME or THF) were prepared by reacting UCI4 with thallium cyclopentadienide (Marks and Ernst 1982). 

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