Volume 52, Issue 27 pp. 6885-6888
Communication

A Tetrapositive Metal Ion in the Gas Phase: Thorium(IV) Coordinated by Neutral Tridentate Ligands

Dr. Yu Gong

Dr. Yu Gong

Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA)

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Dr. Han-Shi Hu

Dr. Han-Shi Hu

Department of Chemistry & Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University (China)

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Dr. Guoxin Tian

Dr. Guoxin Tian

Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA)

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Dr. Linfeng Rao

Dr. Linfeng Rao

Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA)

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Prof. Dr. Jun Li

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Jun Li

Department of Chemistry & Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University (China)

William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (USA)

Jun Li, Department of Chemistry & Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University (China)

John K. Gibson, Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA)

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Dr. John K. Gibson

Corresponding Author

Dr. John K. Gibson

Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA)

Jun Li, Department of Chemistry & Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University (China)

John K. Gibson, Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (USA)

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First published: 06 May 2013
Citations: 34

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Heavy Element Chemistry, at LBNL under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 (Y.G., G.T., L.R., J.K.G.) and at PNNL under Contract No. DE-AC05-76RL01830 (J.L.). The theoretical work by H.S.H. and J.L. was also supported by NSFC (20933003 and 91026003) of China. The calculations were done using Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology and the Molecular Science Computing capability at the EMSL, a National scientific user facility located at the PNNL, operated for the Department of Energy by Battelle.

Graphical Abstract

Sheltering thorium ions: A Th4+ ion supported by three neutral tetramethyl-3-oxaglutaramide ligands (L=TMOGA) is produced in the gas phase by electrospray ionization (see graph). The thorium in chiral Th(L)34+ is coordinated by nine oxygen atoms (see picture; O red, N blue, C gray). Quantum chemical studies revealed a decrease in ThO binding energies and bond orders and an increase in bond lengths, as the number of coordinating ligands increases.

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