Divergent Stabilities of Tetravalent Cerium, Uranium, and Neptunium Imidophosphorane Complexes

The study of the redox chemistry of mid-actinides (U – Pu) has historically relied on cerium as a model, due to the accessibility of trivalent and tetravalent oxidation states for these ions. Recently, dramatic shifts of lanthanide 4+/3+ non-aqueous redox couples have been established within a homoleptic imidophosphorane ligand framework. Herein we extend the chemistry of the imidophosphorane ligand (NPC = [N=PtBu(pyrr)2]−; pyrr = pyrrolidinyl) to tetrahomoleptic NPC complexes of neptunium and cerium (1-M, 2-M, M = Np, Ce) and present comparative structural, electrochemical, and theoretical studies of these complexes. Large cathodic shifts in the M4+/3+ (M = Ce, U, Np) couples underpin the stabilization of higher metal oxidation states owing to the strongly donating nature of the NPC ligands, providing access to the U5+/4+, U6+/5+, and to an unprecedented, well-behaved Np5+/4+ redox couple. The differences in the chemical redox properties of the U vs. Ce and Np complexes are rationalized based on their redox potentials, degree of structural rearrangement upon reduction/oxidation, relative molecular orbital energies, and orbital composition analyses employing density functional theory.