Metal–metal bonding in the actinide elements: Conceptual synthesis of a pure two-electron U–U f δ single bond in a constrained geometry of U 2 (OH) 10

A conceptual modeling of a ligand architecture is discussed that could lead to a uranium–uranium single bond that is a pure 5fδ bond. The initial molecule that could possibly lead to this type of bonding is a constrained geometry of the U(V)–U(V) dimer U2(OH)10. Preliminary DFT calculations with relativistic corrections on this molecule indicate that it is close to achieving to the unusual desired bonding.