Stabilization Of The CN35- Anion In Recoverable High-pressure Ln3O2(CN3) (Ln = La, Eu, Gd, Tb, Ho, Yb) Oxoguanidinates.

A series of isostructural Ln3O2(CN3) (Ln = La, Eu, Gd, Tb, Ho, Yb) oxoguanidinates was synthesized under high-pressure (25-54 GPa) high-temperature (2000-3000 K) conditions in laser-heated diamond anvil cells. The crystal structure of this novel class of compounds was determined via synchrotron single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) as well as corroborated by X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) measurements and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The Ln3O2(CN3) solids are composed of the hitherto unknown CN35- guanidinate anion - deprotonated guanidine. Changes in unit cell volumes and compressibility of Ln3O2(CN3) (Ln = La, Eu, Gd, Tb, Ho, Yb) compounds are found to be dictated by the lanthanide contraction phenomenon. Decompression experiments show that Ln3O2(CN3) compounds are recoverable to ambient conditions. The stabilization of the CN35- guanidinate anion at ambient conditions provides new opportunities in inorganic and organic synthetic chemistry.