Recent advances in chemistry of transuranium elements in non-aqueous media

The study of transuranium elements has remained vastly understudied in comparison to the rest of the periodic table, as the scarcity of research also parallels the smaller quantities of each element available when traversing the series. Previous research with these elements was mainly conducted under aqueous conditions, and albeit useful, this has left much to be discovered. This is because studying non-aqueous behavior of 5f-elements can lend to a much greater holistic understanding of the redox, coordination, and radiolytic properties these elements possess. However, a recent resurgence in actinide chemistry is reviving the field and we aim to highlight the current progress made in some of these areas during the last two decades, especially in the last few years. The chapter begins by examining solution behaviors of the transuranics and what is understood about their radiolytic effects in non-aqueous media. We follow this up by then examining many of the redox phenomena that have been observed, and then this is further followed by the isolation of some solid state compounds obtained from non-aqueous media. Throughout this chapter, many of the same concepts connect between each section and the intention is to demonstrate how interconnected these topics really are despite in many cases only isolated study. Additionally, we attempt to offer a pathway of understanding for future research and some applications.