Small Amount Makes a Big Difference: Critical (n - 1)d Valence Orbitals of Heavy Alkaline Earth Metals inside Cage Clusters

A Blueprint for the Stabilization of Sub-Valent Alkaline Earth Complexes

The study of sub-valent Group 2 chemistry is a relatively new research field, being established in 2007 with the report of the first Mg(I) dimers. These species are stabilized by the formation of a Mg-Mg covalent bond; however, the extension of this chemistry to heavier alkaline earth (AE) metals has been frustrated by significant synthetic challenges, primarily associated with the instability of heavy AE-AE interactions. Here we present a new blueprint for the stabilization of heavy AE(I) complexes, based upon the reduction of AE(II) precursors with planar coordination geometries. We report the synthesis and structural characterisation of homoleptic trigonal planar AE(II) complexes of the monodentate amides {N(SiMe3 )2 }- and {N(Mes)(SiMe3 )}- . DFT calculations showed that the LUMOs of these complexes all show some d-character for AE = Ca-Ba. DFT analysis of the square planar Sr(II) complex [Sr{N(SiMe3 )2 }(dioxane)2 ]∞ revealed analogous frontier orbital d-character. AE(I) complexes that could be accessed by reduction of these AE(II) precursors were modelled computationally, revealing exergonic formation in all cases. Crucially, NBO calculations show that some d-character is preserved in the SOMO of theoretical AE(I) products upon reduction, showing that d-orbitals could play a crucial role in achieving stable heavy AE(I) complexes.

Overlooked Effects of La-4f Orbitals in Endohedral Metallofullerenes

For endohedral metallofullerenes (EMFs), a central issue is how to correctly describe the intracluster and metal-cage interactions, which are critical for understanding their structures, stabilities, and various properties. In this work, density functional theory calculations were carried out for 13 La-based EMFs covering all four reported types and a rather wide cage size range (C₃₂-C₁₀₄). The results reveal that the usually core-like lanthanide 4f subshell may play a critical role in the structural characteristics, energetic stabilities, frontier orbital energy levels, metal charges, and chemical reactivities of these endofullerenes. Regardless of the encapsulated forms, the La-4f contributions to the chemical bonding and structural stability increase with the reduced cage sizes because of the gradually enhanced cage confinement. The combination of metal-to-nonmetal charge transfer and compression of the cage cavity exposes and effectively activates the otherwise chemically inert 4f orbitals. By disclosing the important role of long-neglected metal orbitals inside fullerenes, the current work not only deepens our understanding of EMFs, but also provides new insights into the chemical bondings in general confined spaces at the subnanometer scale.