Synthesis of low-valent uranium fluorides by C-F bond activation.

The uranium(III) alkyl, Tp*2UCH2Ph (Tp* = hydrotris(3,5-dimethylpyrazolyl)borate), activates C-F bonds on a variety of fluorinated substrates. From these reactions two new uranium containing products, Tp*2UF and Tp*2UF2, were isolated and characterized by (1)H, (13)C, (11)B NMR, infrared and electronic absorption spectroscopies, as well as X-ray crystallography. Formation of the uranium(III) or uranium(IV) product was found to be substrate dependent.