Isolation of a uranium(iii) benzophenone ketyl radical that displays redox-active ligand behaviour

Abstract

The first uranium(III) charge separated ketyl radical complex, Tp*₂U(OC·Ph₂), has been isolated and characterized by infrared, ¹H NMR, and electronic absorption spectroscopies, along with X-ray crystallography. Tp*₂U(OC·Ph₂) is a potent two-electron reductant towards N₃Mes (Mes = 2,4,6-trimethylphenyl) and (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidin-1-yl)oxyl (TEMPO), with reducing equivalents derived from the metal centre and the redox-active benzophenone.