Stable uranium(VI) methyl and acetylide complexes and the elucidation of an inverse trans influence ligand series.

Thermally stable uranium(VI)-methyl and -acetylide complexes: U(VI)OR[N(SiMe3)2]3 R = -CH3, -C≡CPh were prepared in which coordination of the hydrocarbyl group is directed trans to the uranium-oxo multiple bond. The stability of the uranium-carbon bond is attributed to an inverse trans influence. The hydrocarbyl complexes show greater ITI stabilization than that of structurally related U(VI)OX[N(SiMe3)2]3 (X = F(-), Cl(-), Br(-)) complexes, demonstrated both experimentally and computationally. An inverse trans influence ligand series is presented, developed from a union of theoretical and experimental results and based on correlations between the extent of cis-destabilization, the complexes stabilities toward electrochemical reduction, the thermodynamic driving forces for U═O bond formation, and the calculated destabilization of axial σ* and π* antibonding interactions.