Spektroskopische und strukturelle Charakterisierung von Tris(2, 6‐di‐t‐butyl‐phenolato)lanthanid(III) (Ln(OAr′)3; Ln = Pr,Nd) sowie parametrische Analyse des Kristallfeld‐Aufspaltungsmusters von Nd(OAr′)3

Electronic Structures of Highly Symmetrical Compounds of f Elements. 37 [1] Spectroscopic and Structural Characterization of Tris(2, 6‐di‐t‐butyl‐phenolato)lanthanide(III) (Ln(OAr′)₃; Ln = Pr, Nd), and Parametric Analysis of the Crystal Field Splitting Pattern of Nd(OAr′)₃ Pr(OAr′)₃ and Nd(OAr′)₃ crystallize (at approximately 150 K and 200 K, respectively) in the monoclinic space group P2₁ with four molecules in the unit cell. If one considers only the directly coordinating oxygen atoms, the effective crystal field is of C_3v symmetry. The signals in the optical spectra of Pr(OAr′)₃ are broad using either solutions or solids, even at ca. 80‐90 K, thus they are not suitable for interpretation purposes. Nd(OAr′)_3, however, exhibits sharp absorption bands at room and low temperatures, which are assigned in analogy to the previously identified absorption transitions of Nd[N(SiMe₃)₂]₃ based on optical polarization measurements. The thus derived crystal field splitting pattern is simulated by fitting the free parameters of a phenomenological Hamiltonian, achieving a reduced r.m.s. deviation of 26.4 cm^—1 for 64 assignments. The parameters used allow the estimation of the ligand field strength associated with the (OAr′)^— ligand, the insertion of this ligand into empirical nephelauxetic and relativistic nephelauxetic series, and the setup of experimentally‐based non‐relativistic and relativistic molecular orbital schemes in the f range.