Electrochemical studies of tris(cyclopentadienyl)thorium and uranium complexes in the +2, +3, and +4 oxidation states

Electrochemical measurements on tris(cyclopentadienyl)thorium and uranium compounds in the +2, +3, and +4 oxidation states are reported with C 5 H 3 (SiMe 3 ) 2 , C 5 H 4 SiMe 3 , and C 5 Me 4 H ligands. The reduction potentials for both U and Th complexes trend with the electron donating abilities of the cyclopentadienyl ligand. Thorium complexes have more negative An( iii )/An( ii ) reduction potentials than the uranium analogs. Electrochemical measurements of isolated Th( ii ) complexes indicated that the Th( iii )/Th( ii ) couple was surprisingly similar to the Th( iv )/Th( iii ) couple in Cp′′-ligated complexes. This suggested that Th( ii ) complexes could be prepared from Th( iv ) precursors and this was demonstrated synthetically by isolation of directly from UV-visible spectroelectrochemical measurements and reactions of with elemental barium indicated that the thorium system undergoes sequential one electron transformations. Electrochemical determination of the reduction potentials for a variety of tris(cyclopentadienyl)uranium and thorium complexes, including data on U( ii ) and Th( ii ) complexes.