Advances in f element reductive reactivity as a paradigm for expanding lanthanide and actinide science and technology

Although f element chemistry has progressed enormously since the time when it was investigated by F.H. Spedding, much still remains to be discovered in this area. This address will describe some recent developments in a fundamental type of f element reaction, reduction, that show just how much new chemistry is still to be discovered in a heavily studied area of f element chemistry that was thought to be mature. This lecture should serve to encourage new efforts to challenge conventional ideas in other mature areas of f element science and technology. For 90 years, lanthanide-based reduction chemistry was accomplished with just three divalent ions, Eu(2+), Yb(2+), and Sm(2+). Now there are many new ways to accomplish molecular reductive chemistry equivalent to that of the traditional Ln(2+) ions, but with all the metals in the lanthanide series, La-Lu. Several years ago such an idea would have been unthinkable. This lecture will describe the development of these new types of reduction and their implications in both lanthanide and actinide chemistry. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.