Abstract:

The combination of potassium-based chemical reductants (predominantly KC8 and K smear) and 2.2.2-cryptand as a chelating agent has been successful in yielding isolable low oxidation state rare-earth and actinide complexes that display interesting reactivity and physical properties. To investigate the generation of low oxidation state products with different properties and stabilities, alternative reduction methods have been pursued including systematic variation of the alkali metal and chelate identity, barium-based reductions, chelate-free reductions, and gamma irradiation of complexes suspended in glassy matrices. These approaches and the subsequent results – including generation and characterization of new Ln(II) species – will be described in this presentation.