Starting material syntheses for non-aqueous molecular uranium chemistry

Starting materials for non-aqueous uranium chemistry usually must be synthesised in-house, as they are rarely available commercially. Various routes to uranium precursors in oxidation states +III to +VI have been reported and developed further according to the availability of uranium compounds. This tutorial review discusses wet-chemical and selected solid-state routes to anhydrous uranium halide, amide and borohydride starting materials in oxidation states +III to +VI suitable for research laboratories. Oxidative, reductive, as well as halide interconversion routes are discussed to give a comprehensive overview on synthetically established routes and promising directions for future development.