Reactivity Actinide versus Lanthanide

The actinide elements undergo bonding very differently from the lanthanides due to the difference in the spatial extension of the frontier orbitals compared with the inner electron orbitals. 

In actinides, the distance between the outer (valence electrons) orbitals and the inner electron orbitals is much greater when compared that of the lanthanide elements. In actinide, the distance between the 5f orbitals (outer orbital) and the 7s7p orbitals is greater than the distance between the lanthanide 4f orbitals and the 6s6p orbitals. 

Because the 5f electrons have a much longer spatial extension than the 4f electrons of the lanthanides, the 5f electron orbitals can overlap with the orbitals of other atoms much easier, making them much more accessible for chemical reactions. 

Uranium gets a special up close and personal look because it s an important industrial material. It s used in nuclear reactors to make energy, and it also has uses for making nuclear weapons. Radioactive isotopes of uranium can be difficult to deal with when in their raw or metallic form they are best handled when they are complexed or made into other compounds. 

Binary compounds can be made with uranium. Such solids state compounds have been investigated because they have interesting magnetic properties. They are made by direct interaction with uranium metal. Oxides mainly form with the general formula UO2, UjOg, UO2. The metal also reacts with other elements such as boron, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and arsenic to make semi-metallic solids. Compounds can also be made using silicon, sulfur, selenium, and tellurium. Urinates can be formed by the addition of uranium with alkali and alkaline Earth metals. 

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