Complexation of Neptunium(V) with Glutaroimide Dioxime: A Study by Absorption Spectroscopy, Microcalorimetry, and Density Functional Theory Calculations

Abstract

Complexation of NpO2(+) ions with glutaroimide dioxime (H2L), a cyclic imide dioxime ligand that has been shown to form strong complexes with UO2(2+) in aqueous solutions, was studied by absorption spectroscopy and microcalorimetry in 1.0 M NaClO4 aqueous solutions. NpO2(+) forms two successive complexes, NpO2(HL)(aq) and NpO2(HL)2(-) (where HL(-) stands for the partially deprotonated glutaroimide dioxime ligand), with stability constants of log β111 = 17.8 ± 0.1 and log β122 = 33.0 ± 0.2, respectively. The complexation is both enthalpy- and entropy-driven, with negative enthalpies (ΔH111 = -52.3 ± 1.0 kJ/mol and ΔH122 = -96.1 ± 1.4 kJ/mol) and positive entropies (ΔS111 = 164 ± 3 J/mol/K and ΔS122 = 310 ± 4 J/mol/K). The thermodynamic parameters suggest that, similar to complexation of UO2(2+), the ligand coordinates with NpO2(+) in a tridentate mode, via the two oxygen atoms of the oxime groups and the nitrogen atom of the imide group. Density functional theory calculations have helped to interpret the optical absorption properties of the NpO2(HL)2(-) complex, by showing that the cis and trans configurations of the complex have very similar energies so that both configurations could be present in the aqueous solutions. It is the noncentrosymmetric cis configuration that makes the 5f → 5f transition allowable so that the NpO2(HL)2(-) complex absorbs in the near-IR region.