Computational chemical analysis of Eu(III) and Am(III) complexes with pnictogen-donor ligands using DFT calculations

Kimura, Taiki*; Kaneko, Masashi   ; Watanabe, Masayuki   ; Miyashita, Sunao*; Nakashima, Satoru*

We demonstrated density functional calculations of Eu(III) and Am(III) complexes with pnictogen-donor (X) ligands, CH)X-CH-CH-X(CH) (X = N, P, As and Sb). We investigated the optimized structures of the cmoplexes and the Gibbs energy differences in the complex formation reactions. Those results indicated that the N- and P-donor ligands have Am(III) ion selectivity over Eu(III) ion, especially, the P-donor ligand showed the highest selectivity. The tendency of the Am(III)/Eu(III) selectivity by the pnictogen-dono ligands was found to be comparable to that of soft acid classification in hard and soft acids and bases rule. Mulliken's spin population analysis indicated that the bonding property between the metal ion and the pnictogen atoms correlated with the Am(III)/Eu(III) selectivity. In particular, the participation of f-orbital electrons of the metal ion in the covalency was indicated to have an important role for the selectivity.