page_title: Actinide
section_title: Salts
hierarchical_section_title: Actinide / Compounds / Salts
caption_attribution_description: Einsteinium(III) iodide glowing in the dark (not illuminated!)
context_page_description: The actinide or actinoid series encompasses the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers from 89 to 103, actinium through lawrencium.
  Strictly speaking, both actinium and lawrencium have been labeled as group 3 elements, but both elements are often included in any general discussion of the chemistry of the actinide elements. Actinium is the more often omitted of the two, because its placement as a group 3 element is somewhat more common in texts and for semantic reasons: since "actinide" means "like actinium", it has been argued that actinium cannot logically be an actinide, but IUPAC acknowledges its inclusion based on common usage.
  The actinide series derives its name from the first element in the series, actinium. The informal chemical symbol An is used in general discussions of actinide chemistry to refer to any actinide. All but one of the actinides are f-block elements, with the exception being either actinium or lawrencium. The series mostly corresponds to the filling of the 5f electron shell, although actinium and thorium lack any 5f electrons, and curium and lawrencium have the same number as the preceding element.
context_section_description: *An – actinide 
  **Depending on the isotopes
  Actinides easily react with halogens forming salts with the formulas MX₃ and MX₄ (X = halogen). So the first berkelium compound, BkCl₃, was synthesized in 1962 with an amount of 3 nanograms. Like the halogens of rare earth elements, actinide chlorides, bromides, and iodides are water-soluble, and fluorides are insoluble. Uranium easily yields a colorless hexafluoride, which sublimates at a temperature of 56.5 °C; because of its volatility, it is used in the separation of uranium isotopes with gas centrifuge or gaseous diffusion. Actinide hexafluorides have properties close to anhydrides. They are very sensitive to moisture and hydrolyze forming AnO₂F₂. The pentachloride and black hexachloride of uranium were synthesized, but they are both unstable.
  Action of acids on actinides yields salts, and if the acids are non-oxidizing then the actinide in the salt is in low-valence state:
  U + 2H₂SO₄ → U(SO₄)₂ + 2H₂
  2Pu + 6HCl → 2PuCl₃ + 3H₂
  However, in these reactions the regenerating hydrogen can react with the metal, forming the corresponding hydride. Uranium reacts with acids and water much more easily than thorium.
  Actinide salts can also be obtained by dissolving the corresponding hydroxides in acids. Nitrates, chlorides, sulfates and perchlorates of actinides are water-soluble. When crystallizing from aqueous solutions, these salts forming a hydrates, such as Th(NO₃)₄·6H₂O, Th(SO₄)₂·9H₂O and Pu₂(SO₄)₃·7H₂O. Salts of high-valence actinides easily hydrolyze. So, colorless sulfate, chloride, perchlorate and nitrate of thorium transform into basic salts with formulas Th(OH)₂SO₄ and Th(OH)₃NO₃. The solubility and insolubility of trivalent and tetravalent actinides is like that of lanthanide salts. So phosphates, fluorides, oxalates, iodates and carbonates of actinides are weakly soluble in water; they precipitate as hydrates, such as ThF₄·3H₂O and Th(CrO₄)₂·3H₂O.
  Actinides with oxidation state +6, except for the AnO₂²⁺-type cations, form [AnO₄]²⁻, [An₂O₇]²⁻ and other complex anions. For example, uranium, neptunium and plutonium form salts of the Na₂UO₄ (uranate) and (NH₄)₂U₂O₇ (diuranate) types. In comparison with lanthanides, actinides more easily form coordination compounds, and this ability increases with the actinide valence. Trivalent actinides do not form fluoride coordination compounds, whereas tetravalent thorium forms K₂ThF₆, KThF₅, and even K₅ThF₉ complexes. Thorium also forms the corresponding sulfates (for example Na₂SO₄·Th(SO₄)₂·5H₂O), nitrates and thiocyanates. Salts with the general formula An₂Th(NO₃)₆·nH₂O are of coordination nature, with the coordination number of thorium equal to 12. Even easier is to produce complex salts of pentavalent and hexavalent actinides. The most stable coordination compounds of actinides – tetravalent thorium and uranium – are obtained in reactions with diketones, e.g. acetylacetone.
caption: Einsteinium triiodide glowing in the dark
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