Spectroscopic investigations of the electronic structure of neptunyl ions

Molecular electronic structures are innately sensitive to the geometric and chemical environments around the metal center of coordination compounds . However, the interrelationships between the electronic structures and molecular geometries of actinide species, which often contain more than one electron in the Sf valence shell, are quite complex due to the large numbers of possible electronic states and high densities of vibronically enabled transitions .1'2 Investigations of the optical signatures of simple, well-defined molecular systems should provide the most straightforward approach for unharnessing these fundamental relationships, and in particular, systems with a single electron in the valence Sf shell, such as the neptunyl ion (Np0 22+), should provide the most viable means for characte rizing actinide electronic structure. Furthermore, Sf orbital-occupied actinide systems exhibit not only visible and ultraviolet ligand-to-metal charge-transfer spectral bands, but also near-infrared Sf-Sf transitions resulting from promotion of a Sf electron to an orbital of primarily Sf character.