New route to +3 oxidation state of neptunium

An illustration depicting non-aqueous neptunium redox behaviour in THF

Source: © Joshua Smith

Tetrahydrofuran steers chemists towards a low-valent neptunium precursor

Scientists based in the US have made a neptunium complex that can act as a precursor for neptunium(III) chemistry. The complex is made from a readily available aqueous stock solution of neptunium(IV) so saves the need to use scarce neptunium metal.