Nature of Neodymium diiodide

name:Neodymium diiodide
Formula as often written: NdI2
Hill system formula: I2Nd1
CAS registry number: [61393-36-0]
Formula weight: 398.049
Class: iodide
Synonyms:
neodymium diiodide
neodymium(II) iodide
neodymium iodide
Colour: violet
Melting point: 562°C
The reaction of neodymium diiodide NdI2 with excess methanol in acetonitrile produced the tetranuclear neodymium cluster [Nd4(μ2-I)1.1(μ3-I)(μ2-OMe)4.9(μ4-O)(MeCN)12]I3 (1). In the latter, the isomorphic substitution of one methoxy group by an I− anion with site occupancies (%) of 90 and 10, respectively, was observed. Due to the isomorphic substitution in the crystal, cluster 1 can be considered as a superposition of two complexes, [Nd4(μ2-I)(μ3-I)(μ2-OMe)5(μ4-O)(MeCN)12]I3 and [Nd4(μ2-I)2(μ3-I)(μ2-OMe)4(μ4-O)(MeCN)12]I3. The characteristic feature of cluster 1 is that the center of the Nd4 cage is occupied by the μ4-coordinated O2− anion, which is indicative of the partial O-C bond cleavage in methanol. The reaction of NdI2 with an equimolar amount of MeOH in an acetonitrile solution produced methoxide NdI2(OMe)(MeCN)4 in 49% yield.

from:Rare Metals