Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

New synthetic procedures for the preparation of Ce(cot)2, cerocene, from [Li(thf)4][Ce(cot)2], and Ce2(cot)3 in high yield and purity are reported. Heating solid Ce(cot)2 yields Ce2(cot)3 and COT while heating Ce2(cot)3 with an excess of COT in C6D6 to 65oC over four months yields Ce(cot)2. The solid state magnetic susceptibility of these three organocerium compounds shows that Ce(cot)2 behaves as a TIP (temperature independent paramagnet) over the temperature range of 5-300 K, while that of Ce2(cot)3 shows that the spin carriers are antiferromagnetically coupled below 10 K; above 10 K, the individual spins are uncorrelated, and [Ce(cot)2]- behaves as an isolated f1 paramagnet. The EPR at 1.5K for Ce2(cot)3 and [Ce(cot)2]- have ground state of MJ= +- 1/2. The LIII edge XANES of Ce(cot)2 (Booth, C.H.; Walter, M.D.; Daniel, M.; Lukens, W.W., Andersen, R.A., Phys. Rev. Lett. 2005, 95, 267202) and 2Ce2(cot)3 over 30-500 K are reported; the Ce(cot)2 XANES spectra show Ce(III) and Ce(IV) signatures up to a temperature of approximately 500 K, whereupon the Ce(IV) signature disappears, consistent with the thermal behavior observed in the melting experiment. The EXAFS of Ce(cot)2 and Ce2(cot)3 are reported at 30 K; the agreement between the molecular parameters for Ce(cot)2 derived from EXAFS and single crystal X-ray diffraction data are excellent. In the case of Ce2(cot)3 no X-ray diffraction data are known to exist, but the EXAFS are consistent with a "triple-decker" sandwich structure. A molecular rationalization is presented for the electronic structure of cerocene having a multiconfiguration ground state that is an admixture of the two configurations Ce(III, 4f1)(cot1.5-)2 and Ce(IV, 4f0)(cot2-)2; the multiconfigurational ground state has profound effects on the magnetic properties and on the nature of the chemical bond in cerocene and, perhaps, other molecules.