Abstract
The actinides, from californium to nobelium (Z = 98–102), are known to have an accessible +2 oxidation state. Understanding the origin of this chemical behaviour requires characterizing CfII materials, but investigations are hampered by the fact that they have remained difficult to isolate. This partly arises from the intrinsic challenges of manipulating this unstable element, as well as a lack of suitable reductants that do not reduce CfIII to Cf°. Here we show that a CfII crown–ether complex, Cf(18-crown-6)I2, can be prepared using an Al/Hg amalgam as a reductant. Spectroscopic evidence shows that CfIII can be quantitatively reduced to CfII, and rapid radiolytic re-oxidation in solution yields co-crystallized mixtures of CfII and CfIII complexes without the Al/Hg amalgam. Quantum-chemical calculations show that the Cf‒ligand interactions are highly ionic and that 5f/6d mixing is absent, resulting in weak 5f→5f transitions and an absorption spectrum dominated by 5f→6d transitions.

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Data availability
All of the relevant data that support the findings of this research are available within the Article and its Supplementary Information and via CCDC 2180138 (Dy(18-crown-6)I2) (https://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/structures/Search?access=referee&ccdc=2180138&Author=Todd+Poe), 2180139 ([Am(cis-syn-cis-dicyclohexano-18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]I2·CH3CN) (https://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/structures/Search?access=referee&ccdc=2180139&Author=Todd+Poe), 2180140 (Cf(18-crown-6)I2) (https://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/structures/Search?access=referee&ccdc=2180140&Author=Todd+Poe) and 2180141 ([CfII(18-crown-6)(H2O)2(CH3CN)][CfIII(18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]I2) (https://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/structures/Search?access=referee&ccdc=2180141&Author=Todd+Poe). Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Heavy Elements Chemistry Program, under award no. DE-FG02-13ER16414.
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T.N.P., J.M.S., H.B.W., B.M.R., B.S., N.B., B.N.L., S.J. and T.E.A.-S. contributed to the conception and execution of the synthetic, spectroscopic, and crystallographic studies reported in this manuscript. T.N.P., J.M.S., H.B.W., B.M.R., J.B., Z.B., N.B. and B.N.L. contributed to the recycling and purification of 249Cf between experiments. H.R. and C.C.-B. carried out the computational studies. All authors discussed and co-wrote the manuscript.
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Extended data
Extended Data Fig. 1 Canonical molecular orbital energy diagram.
The orbital splitting obtained from spin-orbit CASSCF calculations, CAS(10,12), is consistent with a pseudo-D6h. Molecular orbitals in the active space are shown. The predicted spin-orbit ground state corrected by dynamic correlation is 72% 5I8 and 12% 3K8 (plus additional smaller contributions).
Extended Data Fig. 2 LFDFT absorption spectroscopy of [CfII(18-crown-6)(H2O)2(CH3CN)]2-.
Calculated absorption spectrum using the LFDFT approach, where a) the calculated intensities of the 5f→6d transitions obscure most of the 5f→5f transitions. The inset corresponds to the most intense 5f→5f transition consistent with the experimental spectrum. b) The 5f→5f transitions were zoomed in and the lowest lying states assigned. It is clear that the low intensity transitions J = 5 and J = 2 are significantly affected by the ∆S = 0 selection rule, and that there is strong J-mixing (bracketed in bold).
Extended Data Fig. 3 Solid-state absorption spectrum of [CfII(18-crown-6)(H2O)2(CH3CN)][CfIII(18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]I2.
The solid-state absorption spectra for crystals [CfII(18-crown-6)(H2O)2(CH3CN)][CfIII(18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]I2 collected at room temperature (green) and 93.15 K (black) possess similar features in the UV region to the broadband features observed in the solution absorption spectrum containing [Cf(18-crown-6)]3+ presented in Fig. 3.
Extended Data Fig. 4 Crystal structure of [Am(cis-syn-cis-dicyclohexano-18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]I2 • CH3CN and associated bond lengths.
a) and b) Preparation of AmI3 • nH2O (n ≤ 6) can be performed using the same methods reported for CfI3 • nH2O (n ≤ 6). Reaction of AmI3 • nH2O (n ≤ 6) with dicyclohexano-18-crown-6 and [NBu4][BPh4] in acetonitrile yields crystals of [Am(cis-syn-cis-dicyclohexano-18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]I2 • CH3CN after slow vapor diffusion of diethyl ether. (a) Features a view of the isolated metal complex showing the ligands in apical positions, while (b) shows the coordination of the dicyclohexano-18-crown-6 molecule in the equatorial plane of the molecule. c) A table of bond lengths for the metal complex is provided for comparison with the Cf complexes reported here, as well as similar Am complexes reported in the literature.
Extended Data Fig. 5 Solid-state absorption spectrum of [Am(cis-syn-cis-dicyclohexano-18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]I2 • CH3CN.
Solid-state absorption measurements of [Am(cis-syn-cis-dicyclohexano-18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]I2 • CH3CN yield characteristic 5f→5f transitions exhibited by this compound, namely group E transitions (7F6) at 19,763 cm−1 and hypersensitive group H transitions (5L6) at 12,207 cm−1.
Extended Data Fig. 6 Geometry optimization structure of the Cf mixed valent compound.
Depiction of the 13 iodide anions considered in the geometry optimization of the [CfII(18-crown-6)(H2O)2(CH3CN)][CfIII(18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]I2 complexes. Their positions were kept fixed in the optimization process.
Extended Data Fig. 7 Potential energy surfaces of the three possible assignments for apical ligands.
a) [CfIII(18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)(OH)]2- b) [CfII(18-crown-6)(H2O)2(CH3CN)]2- and c) [CfIII(18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]2-. Energies correspond to relative energies with respect to their corresponding minimum values in kJ/mol. Solid lines correspond to data fitting curves using quartic functions (R2 = 1 for each case). Distances at the minimum energy value are given for each case.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
Supplementary figs. 1–5, discussion and tables 1 and 2.
Supplementary Data 1
Source data for plots.
Supplementary Data 2
Crystal structure of Cf(18-crown-6)I2.
Supplementary Data 3
Crystal structure containing [Cf(18-crown-6)(H2O)2(CH3CN)][CfI(18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]2+.
Supplementary Data 4
Crystal structure of [Am(cis-syn-cis-dicyclohexano-18-crown-6)(H2O)(CH3CN)I]I2•CH3CN.
Supplementary Data 5
Crystal structure of Dy(18-crown-6)I2.
Source data
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Source Data Fig. 5
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Source Data Extended Data Fig. 2
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Source Data Extended Data Fig. 3
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Source Data Extended Data Fig. 5
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Source Data Extended Data Fig. 7
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Poe, T.N., Ramanantoanina, H., Sperling, J.M. et al. Isolation of a californium(II) crown–ether complex. Nat. Chem. 15, 722–728 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-023-01170-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-023-01170-9