Synthesis of Actinide Fluoride Complexes Using Trimethyltin Fluoride as a Mild and Selective Fluorinating Reagent

Trimethyltin fluoride (Me3SnF) is a mild and selective reagent for the installation of actinide fluoride bonds as demonstrated by the room temperature synthesis of a variety of organometallic and inorganic thorium(IV), uranium(IV), and uranium(V) fluoride complexes {(1,2,4-tBu(3)C(5)H(2))(2)ThF2, (C5Me5)(2)U(F)(O-2,6-iPr(2)C(6)H(3)), U(F)(O-2,6-tBu(2)C(6)H(3))(3), U(F)[N(SiMe3)(2)](3), (C5Me5)(2)UF2(L) (L = O=PMe3, O=PPh3, O=PCy3), and (C5Me5)(2)U(F)(=N-2,6-iPr(2)C(6)H(3))} from their corresponding chloride, bromide, and iodide analogues. From these reactions, the new (C5Me5)(2)UF2(L) (L = O=PPh3, O=PCy3) uranium fluoride complexes were isolated and characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography.