structural and electrochemical studies on uranium(VI) nitrato complex with n-octyl(phenyl)-N, N-diisobutylcarbamoylmethylphosphine oxide in non-aqueous solvents

The structure of uranyl nitrato complex with CMPO [n-Octyl(phenyl)-N, N-diisobutylcarbamoylmethylphosphine oxide] in solid state and in non-aqueous solvents without containing free CR/IPO has been studied by using IR spectrophotometer, ¹³C- and ³¹P-NMR. The carbonyl(vcO) and phosphoryl(vpO) stretching bands of coordinated CMPO were observed at lower wavenumber than the corresponding bands of free CMPO in both the states. The ¹³C and ³¹P peaks assigned to the carbonyl carbon and phosphoryl phosphine of coordinated CMPO was detected in the lower field than that of free CMPO. From these results, it was concluded that the uranyl nitrato complex with CMPO in both the states has the structure with two nitrate and one CMPO coordinated as bidentate in the equatorial plane of uranyl ion, i.e., UO₂(NO₃)₂·CMPO. Furthermore, the electrochemical studies of UO₂(NO₃)₂·CMPO complex in CH₃CN have been carried out using cyclic and normal pulse voltammetric methods. It was found that the UO₂(NO₃)₂·CMPO complex is reduced to U(V) complex at around −1.22V vs. Fc/Fc⁺ (ferrocene/ferrocenium) and that the resulting reductant is oxidized to U(VI) at around +0.04V vs. Fc/Fc⁺.