Expanding Transuranium Organoactinide Chemistry: Synthesis and Characterization of (Cp'M)(μ-4,4'-bpy) (M = Ce, Np, Pu).

Dinuclear, organometallic, transuranium compounds, (Cp'M)(μ-4,4'-bpy) (Cp' = trimethylsilylcyclopentadienide, 4,4'-bpy = 4,4'-bipyridine, M = Ce, Np, Pu), reported herein provide a rare opportunity to probe the nature of actinide-carbon bonding. Significant splitting of the f-f transitions results from the unusual coordination environment in these complexes and leads to electronic properties that are currently restricted to organoactinide systems. Structural and spectroscopic characterization in the solid state and in solution for (Cp'M)(μ-4,4'-bpy) (M = Np, Pu) are reported, and their structural metrics are compared to a cerium analogue.