Pressure-Induced Spectroscopic Changes in a Californium 1D Material Are Twice as Large as Found in the Holmium Analog.

In this study, the synthesis, characterization, and pressure response of a 1D californium mellitate (mellitate = 1,2,3,4,5,6-benzenehexacarboxylate) coordination polymer, Cf(mell)(HO)·4HO (), are reported. The Cf-O lengths within the crystal structure are compared to its gadolinium () and holmium () analogs as well. These data show that the average Cf-O bond distance is slightly longer than the average Gd-O bond, consistent with trends in effective ionic radii. UV-vis-NIR absorption spectra as a function of pressure were collected using diamond-anvil techniques for both and . These experiments show that the Cf(III) f → f transitions have a stronger dependence on pressure than that of the holmium analog. In the former case, the shift is nearly linear with applied pressure and averages 6.6 cm/GPa, whereas in the latter, it is <3 cm/GPa.