How would you account for the following:
The chemistry of actinoids is more complicated as compared to lanthanoids.
Chemistry of actinoids is complicated as compared to lanthanoids. Give two reasons.
Solution 1
The energy difference between the 6d, 7s and 5f orbitals is very small in actinoids. In addition, the 5f orbitals of the actinoids are less shielded than the 4f orbitals of the lanthanoids. Thus, in the lanthanoids, only 4f electrons of Ce participate in chemical bonding, whereas in the lighter actinoids, up to americium, the 5f electrons also take part. This makes the chemistry of actinoids more complicated than that of lanthanoids
Solution 2
The reasons are as follows:
1) Actinoids display a large number of oxidation states while lanthanoids primarily show only three oxidation states.
2) Actinoids are radioactive in nature.
