Rui F. Munhá

The hydride route to the preparation of dinitrogen complexes

That the inert dinitrogen molecule can act as a ligand to a transition metal complex is one of the key discoveries in inorganic chemistry of the past century. This feature article summarises a body of work up to 2010 that describes a particularly attractive route to dinitrogen complexes that involves the direct reaction of N(2) with metal hydride derivatives. This process is shown to be general across the transition series and, depending on the metal, different levels of activation of the coordinated dinitrogen unit are observed.

Synthesis and structure of new microporous Nd(III) silicates of the rhodesite group

Abstract The synthesis and structural characterization of two novel trivalent neodymium microporous silicates whose structures are reminiscent of the structure of mineral montregianite of the rhodesite group, and their infrared light-emission properties are reported. The compound KNa2Nd[Si8O19]·5H2O (1) crystallizes in the orthorhombic Pmma space group: a = 23.9016(17) Å, b = 6.9980(5) Å, c = 6.5474(5) Å. Heating 1 at 200 °C for 40 min affords a new partially dehydrated phase, KNa2Nd[Si8O19]·2.8H2O (2), also crystallizing in the orthorhombic Pmma space group: a = 23.923(4) Å, b = 6.9950(11) Å, c = 6.5474(10) Å. Compound 2 is the hydrated phase with the lowest content of water molecule reported to date in the rhodesite mineral series.