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Updated: Aug 14, 2026
Hyperspectral Imaging as a Tool to Study Optical Anisotropy in Lanthanide-Based Molecular Single Crystals
Published on: April 14, 2020
Lanthanide-Nitrogen Triple Bonds
Zhanxin Jiang1, Ziqi Hu1, Jingyao Ye2
1Key Laboratory of Precision and Intelligent Chemistry, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei230026, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Lanthanide-ligand multiple bonds are difficult to stabilize due to the dominating ionic bonding nature of lanthanide metals, and solid-state synthesis of a lanthanide complex bearing a lanthanide-nitrogen triple bond has long been expected but never been reported. Here, we stabilize the lanthanide-nitrogen triple bond in solid state for the first time, in the form of a diatomic monocation CeN+ captured in a nitrogen-substituted carbon cage C81N-, namely, CeN@C81N with two cage isomers. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction results reveal the existence of Ce≡N triple bonds with bond lengths of 1.76 Å, which is much shorter than the shortest Ce═N double bond ever recorded (2.04 Å). Quantum-chemical studies reveal the formal Ce4+ valence state with enhanced 4f electron contribution to the Ce≡N triple bond, resulting in an electronic structure of [Ce4+≡N3-]+@[C81N]- featuring an unprecedented intramolecular single-electron transfer.
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