You are currently viewing a new version of our website. To view the old version click .
MDPIMDPI
Search all articles
Inorganics
Download PDF
  • Editorial
  • Open Access

16 December 2024

Synthesis, Properties and Applications of Lanthanide and Actinide Molecular Compounds

and
Centro de Química Estrutural, Institute of Molecular Sciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada Nacional 10, 2695-066 Bobadela, Portugal
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Inorganics2024, 12(12), 328;https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics12120328
This article belongs to the Special Issue Synthesis, Properties and Applications of Lanthanide and Actinide Molecular Compounds
Version Notes
Order Reprints
Lanthanides and actinides have unique physical and chemical properties, and their compounds continue to be extensively studied on a fundamental level during the search for applications that range from energy production and related environmental issues to the life sciences [1,2,3,4,5,6]. This Special Issue aimed to collect contributions focused on recent results on the synthesis, reactivity, properties and applications of lanthanide and actinide molecular compounds. It followed a previous Inorganics Special Issue devoted to “Rare Earth and Actinide Complexes” that featured Stephen Mansell and Stephen Liddle as Guest Editors [7]. The five- to eight-year period between them witnessed significant advancements that relied on the exceptional optical and magnetic properties of the lanthanides [8,9,10,11] and on exploring and enlightening the properties of less-studied actinides, particularly heavier ones [12,13]. Therefore, this Special Issue, provides a small but significant sample of the current research in f-element coordination chemistry, comprising seven contributions involving the lanthanides and two focusing on omnipresent uranyl.
Evans and co-workers [14], as well as Reinfandt and Roesky [15], reported interesting examples of the widely studied but still fascinating organometallic chemistry of samarium, involving vintage, but ever-present, cyclopentadienyl ligands. Vostrikova and co-workers, in two contributions [16,17], examined the structure and magnetic properties of new lanthanide complexes comprising tripodal ligands. Vostrikova [18] also contributed a review on this topic of lanthanide complexes with tripodal ligands, particularly air-stable ones, and their usage in magnetism studies. Lanthanide complexes can be the building blocks of more extended structures that can tune luminescence and/or magnetic properties. Ivanova et al. [19] evaluated the photoluminescence of lanthanide(III) coordination polymers with a triazolyl methane linker, while Liu et al. [20] examined the properties of oligomeric Gd compounds as possible magnetic refrigerants. For the actinides, Tsantis et al. [21] provided a study of selected amidoxime ligands as models for understanding the selective extraction of uranyl ions from seawater, employing structural and spectroscopic analyses. Maria and Marçalo [22] contributed a review on a long-running topic in actinide chemistry concerning the challenges associated with the formation of uranyl analog complexes.
We hope that this Special Issue has contributed to highlighting the scope and distinctiveness of f-element chemistry. Owing to the unique properties of lanthanide ions, the potential utility of molecular lanthanide compounds in biosensing and bioimaging continues to increase. The search for new bonding motifs in molecular actinide compounds is ongoing and key to the development of separation strategies for spent nuclear fuel and the processing of radioactive waste.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

  1. Liddle, S.T.; Mills, D.P.; Natrajan, L.S. (Eds.) The Lanthanides and Actinides: Synthesis, Reactivity, Properties and Applications; World Scientific: Singapore, 2022. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  2. Peluzo, B.M.T.C.; Kraka, E. Uranium: The Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Beyond. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23, 4655. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  3. Deblonde, G.J.-P. Biogeochemistry of Actinides: Recent Progress and Perspective. ACS Environ. Au 2024, 4, 292–306. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  4. Cotruvo, J.A., Jr. The Chemistry of Lanthanides in Biology: Recent Discoveries, Emerging Principles, and Technological Applications. ACS Cent. Sci. 2019, 5, 1496–1506. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  5. Bodmana, S.E.; Butler, S.J. Advances in Anion Binding and Sensing Using Luminescent Lanthanide Complexes. Chem. Sci. 2021, 12, 2716–2734. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  6. Pallares. R.M.; Abergel, R.J. Development of Radiopharmaceuticals for Targeted Alpha Therapy: Where do we Stand? Front. Med. 2022, 9, 1020188. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  7. Mansell, S.M.; Liddle, S.T. Rare Earth and Actinide Complexes. Inorganics 2016, 4, 31. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  8. Virender; Chauhan, A.; Ashwani Kumar, A.; Singh, G.; Solovev, A.A.; Xiong, J.; Liu, X.; Mohan, B. Photonic Properties and Applications of Multi-Functional Organo-Lanthanide Complexes: Recent Advances. J. Rare Earths 2024, 42, 16–27. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  9. MacKenzie, L.E.; Pal, R. Circularly Polarized Lanthanide Luminescence for Advanced Security Inks. Nat. Rev. Chem. 2021, 5, 109–124. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  10. Li, J.; Yang, Y.; Yu, Q.; Su, G.; Liu, W. Development and Prospects in the Structure and Performance of Lanthanide Single-Molecule Magnets. J. Phys. Chem. C 2024, 128, 4882–4890. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  11. Zabala-Lekuona, A.; Seco, J.M.; Colacio, E. Single-Molecule Magnets: From Mn12-ac to Dysprosium Metallocenes, a Travel in Time. Coord. Chem. Rev. 2021, 441, 213984. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  12. Bai, Z.L.; Beck, N.B.; Scheibe, B.; Sperling, J.M.; Weiland, A.; Ruf, M.; Brannon, J.P.; Rotermund, B.M.; Martinez, D.G.; Albrecht-Schonzart, T.E. Investigation of Pressure Effects in the Bimetallic Transplutonium Tetrazolate Complexes [(An(pmtz)2(H2O)3)2(μ-pmtz)]2(pmtz)2·nH2O (An3+ = Cm3+, Bk3+, and Cf3+). J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 7822–7830. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  13. Marsh, M.L.; Albrecht-Schmitt, T.E. Directed Evolution of the Periodic Table: Probing the Electronic Structure of Late Actinides. Dalton Trans. 2017, 46, 9316–9333. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
  14. Nguyen, J.Q.; Ziller, J.W.; Evans, W.J. Tetramethylcyclopentadienyl Samarium(II) Metallocene Chemistry: Isolation of a Bimetallic Sm(II)/Sm(II) Complex. Inorganics 2023, 11, 4. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  15. Reinfandt, N.; Roesky, P.W. Reactivity of a Sterical Flexible Pentabenzylcyclopentadienyl Samarocene. Inorganics 2022, 10, 25. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  16. Rey, P.; Caneschi, A.; Sukhikh, T.S.; Vostrikova, K.E. Tripodal Oxazolidine-N-Oxyl Diradical Complexes of Dy3+ and Eu3+. Inorganics 2021, 9, 91. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  17. Vostrikova, K.E.; Sukhikh, T.S.; Lavrov, A.N. The Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Magnetic Properties of Mono-Scorpionate Eu(III) Complexes. Inorganics 2023, 11, 418. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  18. Vostrikova, K.E. The Tripodal Ligand’s 4f Complexes: Use in Molecular Magnetism. Inorganics 2023, 11, 307. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  19. Ivanova, E.A.; Smirnova, K.S.; Pozdnyakov, I.P.; Potapov, A.S.; Lider, E.V. Photoluminescent Lanthanide(III) Coordination Polymers with Bis(1,2,4-Triazol-1-yl)Methane Linker. Inorganics 2023, 11, 317. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  20. Liu, B.-L.; Xu, Q.-F.; Long, L.-S.; Zheng, L.-S. Magnetocaloric Effect of Two Gd-Based Frameworks. Inorganics 2022, 10, 91. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  21. Tsantis, S.T.; Lada, Z.G.; Skiadas, S.G.; Tzimopoulos, D.I.; Raptopoulou, C.P.; Psycharis, V.; Perlepes, S.P. Understanding the Selective Extraction of the Uranyl Ion from Seawater with Amidoxime-Functionalized Materials: Uranyl Complexes of Pyrimidine-2-amidoxime. Inorganics 2024, 12, 82. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
  22. Maria, L.; Marçalo, J. Uranyl Analogue Complexes—Current Progress and Synthetic Challenges. Inorganics 2022, 10, 121. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

Article Metrics

Citations

Article Access Statistics

Journal Statistics
Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view.
Download PDF
Improved Photothermal Heating of NaNdF4 Microcrystals via Low-Level Doping of Sm3+ for Thermal-Responsive Upconversion Luminescence Anti-Counterfeiting
Previous
Local Energy Minima and Density of Energy Barriers in Dense Clusters of Magnetic Nanoparticles
Next