Contraction lanthanide

Lanthanide elements (referred to as Ln) have atomic numbers that range from 57 to 71. They are lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu). With the inclusion of scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y), which are in the same subgroup, this total of 17 elements are referred to as the rare earth elements (RE). They are similar in some aspects but very different in many others. Based on the electronic configuration of the rare earth elements, in this chapter we will discuss the lanthanide contraction phenomenon and the consequential effects on the chemical and physical properties of these elements. The coordination chemistry of lanthanide complexes containing small inorganic ligands is also briefly introduced here [1-5]. 

1 Electronic Configuration of Lanthanide Atoms in the Ground State 

Lanthanide elements adopt either the [Xe]4f 6s or [Xe]4f i5d 6s2 configuration depending on the relative energy level of these two electronic configurations. Eigure 1.1 shows the 

Rare Earth Coordination Chemistry Fundamentals and Applications Edited by Chunhui Huang 

One effect of lanthanide contraction is that the radius of trivalent yttrium ion (Y +) is measured to be between that of Ho + and Er +, and the atomic radius of yttrium is between neodymium and samarium. This results in the chemical properties of yttrium being very similar to those of lanthanide elements. Yttrium is often found with lanthanide elements in natural minerals. The chemical properties of yttrium may be similar to the lighter or the heavier lanthanide elements in different systems and this depends on the level of covalent character of the chemical bonds in those systems. 

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Relativistic effects are cited for changes in energy levels, resulting in the yellow color of gold and the fact that mercury is a liquid. Relativistic effects are also cited as being responsible for about 10% of lanthanide contraction. Many more specific examples of relativistic effects are reviewed by Pyykko (1988). 

Crystal Structure and Ionic Radii. Crystal stmcture data have provided the basis for the ionic radii (coordination number = CN = 6), which are summarized in Table 9 (13,14,17). For both and ions there is an actinide contraction, analogous to the lanthanide contraction, with increasing positive charge on the nucleus. 

Chemical Properties. Although the chemical properties of the trivalent lanthanides are quite similar, some differences occur as a consequence of the lanthanide contraction (see Table 3). The chemical properties of yttrium are very similar too, on account of its external electronic stmcture and ionic radius. Yttrium and the lanthanides are typical hard acids, and bind preferably with hard bases such as oxygen-based ligands. Nevertheless they also bind with soft bases, typicaUy sulfur and nitrogen-based ligands in the absence of hard base ligands. 

The effect of the lanthanide contraction on the metal and ionic radii of hafnium has already been mentioned. That these radii are virtually identical for zirconium and hafnium has the result that the ratio of their densities, like that of their atomic weights, is very close to Zr Hf = 1 2.0. Indeed, the densities, the transition temperatures and the neutron-absorbing abilities are the only common properties of these two elements which differ... 

A contraction resulting from the filling of the 4f electron shell is of course not exceptional. Similar contractions occur in each row of the periodic table and, in the d block for instance, the ionic radii decrease by 20.5 pm from Sc to Cu , and by 15 pm from Y to Ag . The importance of the lanthanide contraction arises from its consequences ... 

The total lanthanide contraction is of a similar magnitude to the expansion found in passing from the first to the second transition series, and which might therefore have been expected to occur also in passing from second to third. The interpolation of the lanthanides in fact almost exactly cancels this anticipated increase with the result, noted in preceding chapters, that in each group of transition elements the second and third members have very similar sizes and properties. 

By contrast, the ionic radius in a given oxidation state falls steadily and, though the available data are less extensive, it is clear that an actinide contraction exists, especially for the -f3 state, which is closely similar to the lanthanide contraction (see p. 1232). 

The atomic radii of the second row of d-metals (Period 5) are typically greater than those in the first row (Period 4). The atomic radii in the third row (Period 6), however, are about the same as those in the second row and smaller than expected. This effect is due to the lanthanide contraction, the decrease in radius along the first row of the / block (Fig. 16.4). This decrease is due to the increasing nuclear charge along the period coupled with the poor shielding ability of /-electrons. When the d block resumes (at lutetium), the atomic radius has fallen from 217 pm for barium to 173 pm for lutetium. 

A technologically important effect of the lanthanide contraction is the high density of the Period 6 elements (Fig. 16.5). The atomic radii of these elements are comparable to those of the Period 5 elements, but their atomic masses are about twice as large so more mass is packed into the same volume. A block of iridium, for example, contains about as many atoms as a block of rhodium of the same volume. However, each iridium atom is nearly twice as heavy as a rhodium atom, and so the density of the sample is nearly twice as great. In fact, iridium is one of the two densest elements its neighbor osmium is the other. Another effect of the contraction is the low reactivity—the nobility —of gold and platinum. Because their valence electrons are relatively close to the nucleus, they are tightly bound and not readily available for chemical reactions. 

The atomic radii of the d-block metals are similar but tend to decrease across a series. The lanthanide contraction accounts for the smaller than expected radii and higher densities of the d-block atoms in Period 6. 

FIGURE 16.4 The atomic radii of the d-block elements (in picometers). Notice the similarity of all the values and, in particular, the close similarity between the second and the third rows as a result of the lanthanide contraction. 

Hg is much more dense than Cd, because the decrease in atomic radius that occurs between Z = 58 and Z = 71 (the lanthanide contraction) causes the atoms following the rare earths to he smaller than might have been expected for their atomic masses and atomic numbers. Zn and Cd have densities that are not too dissimilar because the radius of Cd is subject only to a smaller d-block contraction. 

In the sequence of structures from the large to the small rare-earth elements, the lanthanide contraction is manifested as shown in Figs. 19a and 19b. Within a structure, the cell volume diminishes linearly with the atomic number. If a certain, limiting value is reached, there is... 

The third category is the heavy eight-coordinate trivalent lanthanides, whose lability decreases with the progressive filling of the 4f orbitals and the resulting lanthanide contraction, and which are very labile as a consequence of their large rM (7,10,11). 

The 15 trivalent lanthanide, or/ -block, ions La3+, Ce3+, Pr3+, Nd3+, Pm3+, Sm3+, Eu3+, Gd3+, Tb3+, Dy3+, Ho3+, Er3+, Tm3+, Yb3+, and Lu3+, which may be collectively denoted Ln3+, represent the most extended series of chemically similar metal ions. The progressive filling of the 4/orbitals from La3 + to Lu3 + is accompanied by a smooth decrease in rM with increase in atomic number as a consequence of the increasingly strong nuclear attraction for the electrons in the diffuse / orbitals (the lanthanide contraction). Thus, the nine-coordinate rM decrease from 121.6 to 103.2 pm from La3+ to Lu3+, and the eight-coordinate ionic radii decrease from 116.0 to 97.7 pm from La3+ to Lu3+ (2). Ligand field effects are small by comparison with those observed for the first-... 

As in aqueous solution, the lanthanide contraction favors a change from nine-coordination for the light lanthanides to eight-coordination for the light lanthanides such that [Ln(DMF)8]3+ is the major species when Ln3+ = Ce3+-Nd3+, and that this becomes the only detected species when Ln3+ = Tb3+-Lu3+ in dimethylformamide perchlorate solution (11, 92, 93, 321-323). Thus, Nd3+ is characterized by AH° = -14.9 kJ mol-1, AS0 = -69.1 J K"1 mol-1, and AV° = - 9.8 cm3 mol-1 for the equilibrium shown in Eq. (25) (93). The molar volume of DMF is 72 cm3 mol- and it therefore appears that the substantially smaller magnitude of AV° is a consequence of significant... 

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