Actinium-225 is a promising isotope for targeted-α therapy. Unfortunately, progress in developing chelators for medicinal applications has been hindered by a limited understanding of actinium chemistry. This knowledge gap is primarily associated with handling actinium, as it is highly radioactive and in short supply. Hence, AcIII reactivity is often inferred from the lanthanides and minor actinides (that is, Am, Cm), with limited success. Here we overcome these challenges and characterize actinium in HCl solutions using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and molecular dynamics density functional theory. The Ac–Cl and Ac–OH2O distances are measured to be 2.95(3) and 2.59(3) Å, respectively. The X-ray absorption spectroscopy comparisons between AcIII and AmIII in HCl solutions indicate AcIII coordinates more inner-sphere Cl1– ligands (3.2±1.1) than AmIII (0.8±0.3). These results imply diverse reactivity for the +3 actinides and highlight the unexpected and unique AcIII chemical behaviour.

Characterizing how actinide properties change across the f-element series is critical for improving predictive capabilities and solving many nuclear problems facing our society. Unfortunately, it is difficult to make direct comparisons across the 5f-element series because so little is known about trans-plutonium elements. Results described herein help to address this issue through isolation of An(S2CNEt2)3(N2C12H8) (Am, Cm, and Cf). These findings included the first single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements of Cm-S (mean of 2.86 ± 0.04 Å) and Cf-S (mean of 2.84 ± 0.04 Å) bond distances. Furthermore, they highlight the potential of An(S2CNEt2)3(N2C12H8) for providing a test bed for comparative analyses of actinide versus lanthanide bonding interactions.

Inspired by the multielectron redox chemistry achieved using conventional organic-based redox-active ligands, we have characterized a series of iron-functionalized polyoxovanadate-alkoxide clusters in which the metal oxide scaffold functions as a three-dimensional, electron-deficient metalloligand. Four heterometallic clusters were prepared through sequential reduction, demonstrating that the metal oxide scaffold is capable of storing up to four electrons. These reduced products were characterized by cyclic voltammetry, IR, electronic absorption, and H NMR spectroscopies. Moreover, Mössbauer and X-ray absorption spectroscopies suggest that the redox events involve primarily the vanadium ions, while the iron atoms remained in the 3+ oxidation state throughout the redox series. In this sense, the vanadium portion of the cluster mimics a conventional organic-based redox-active ligand bound to an iron(III) ion. Magnetic coupling within the hexanuclear cluster was characterized using SQUID magnetometry. Overall, the results suggest extensive electronic delocalization between the metal centers of the cluster core. These results demonstrate the ability of electronically flexible, reducible metal oxide supports to function as redox-active reservoirs for transition-metal centers.