A dysprosium amide–alkene complex shows soft magnetic hysteresis loops up to 100 kelvin, arising from the high charge density of the amide ligands and the structural role of the pendant alkene.

Chiffre CHEM-PHARM-15179

The oxidation of triphenylphosphine by perfluorinated phenaziniumF aluminate in difluorobenzene affords hexaaryl-1,2-diphosphonium dialuminate 1. Dication 12+ is valence isoelectronic with elusive hex...

Nature Chemistry - The most common oxidation state for lanthanide elements is +3, and, beyond cerium, examples of these elements exhibiting higher oxidation states remain scarce. Now, a molecular...

There is currently a forged letter going round on the internet. In the alleged historical writing of 1907, the University of Bern rejects Albert Einstein’s habilitation. The university archivist Nikla...

Nitrenes (R–N) have been subject to a large body of experimental and theoretical studies. The fundamental reactivity of this important class of transient intermediates has been attributed to their electronic structures, particularly the accessibility of triplet vs singlet states. In contrast, electronic structure trends along the heavier pnictinidene analogues (R–Pn; Pn = P–Bi) are much less systematically explored. We here report the synthesis of a series of metallodipnictenes, {M–Pn═Pn–M} (M = PdII, PtII; Pn = P, As, Sb, Bi) and the characterization of the transient metallopnictinidene intermediates, {M–Pn} for Pn = P, As, Sb. Structural, spectroscopic, and computational analysis revealed spin triplet ground states for the metallopnictinidenes with characteristic electronic structure trends along the series. In comparison to the nitrene, the heavier pnictinidenes exhibit lower-lying ground state SOMOs and singlet excited states, thus suggesting increased electrophilic reactivity. Furthermore, the splitting of the triplet magnetic microstates is beyond the phosphinidenes {M–P} dominated by heavy pnictogen atom induced spin–orbit coupling.