A lanthanide-carbon triple bond stabilized within a fullerene cage
Hongjie Jiang1,2, Jing Zhao3,4,5,6, Qingyu Meng1,2, Xiao-Kun Zhao3,4, Min Guo1,2, Han-Shi Hu5,6, Jun Li3,4,5,6,7(李隽)*, Ning Chen1,2(谌宁)*
1College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
2State Key Laboratory of Radiation Medicine and Protection, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
3Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
4Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalytic Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
5Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
6Engineering Research Center of Advanced Rare-Earth Materials of the Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
7Fundamental Science Center of Rare Earths, Ganjiang Innovation Academy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ganzhou, China.
Nat. Chem.2025,17, 1364–1370
Abstract: Metal–ligand multiple bonds are ubiquitous in coordination and organometallic chemistry. In contrast, lanthanide–carbon multiple bonds are difficult to form. The isolation of complexes containing lanthanide–carbon double bonds with terminal methyl carbene (=CH2) and lanthanide–carbon triple bonds remains challenging. Here we present the synthesis of a lanthanide–carbon triple bond contained inside an endohedral fullerene cage. More specifically, we report a cerium–carbide [Ce≡CSc2] cluster encapsulated inside a C80 fullerene cage. The molecular structure of Ce≡CSc2@C80 and the nature of the Ce≡C triple bond are studied through X-ray crystallography, spectroscopic analyses and quantum chemical calculations. Our data reveal a very short Ce≡C distance of 1.969(7) Å. Chemical bonding analysis suggests that the formation of the Ce≡C bond primarily arises from the stronger bonding affinity between carbon and cerium compared with scandium inside the encapsulated cluster. The fullerene cage plays a crucial role in stabilizing and protecting this trimetallic carbide cluster featuring a Ce≡C triple bond.
Article information: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-025-01856-2
