{
  "abstract": "Direct lanthanide–lanthanide bonding has been so far established only in two- and threecenter systems. Here we report lanthanide complexes containing a tetrahedral Ln4 core featuring a four-center–one-electron (4c–1e) lanthanide–lanthanide bond. In a two-step reductive assembly, six-electron reduction of hexaphenylbenzene (HPB) generates a geometrically reorganized HPB6– framework that provides a multimetal-binding environment for assembly of a core comprising four LnII centers and one additional electron. Structural, spectroscopic, magnetic, and computational analyses show that this electron occupies a diffuse cluster orbital of mixed Ln 6s/6p/5d character and is delocalized over the four central metal centers. These results establish a three-dimensional regime of single-electron Ln–Ln bonding and demonstrate how deeply reduced molecular carbon frameworks can access unconventional f-element electronic structures.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "School of Materials Science and Engineering",
    "Tongji University",
    "School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering",
    "Beijing Institute of Technology",
    "Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Energy Storage and Novel Cell Technology, School of Energy Science and Technology",
    "Liaocheng University",
    "Macao Joint Laboratory of Optoelectronic and Magnetic Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices",
    "South China University of Technology",
    "NMR Research Unit",
    "University of Oulu",
    "Quantum Science Center of Guangdong"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jianwei Liang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Zhenhua Zhu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Haiquan Tian"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Pengxiang Fu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Haixiang Han"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8,
        9
      ],
      "name": "Akseli Mansikkamäki"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6,
        7,
        10
      ],
      "name": "Shang-Da Jiang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Jinkui Tang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Zheng Zhou",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8905-9663"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dszrtn29kqw5j.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008200/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "dszrtn29kqw5j",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008200/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2504|Magnetism in coordination complexes"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7205014524",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008200/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-02",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dszrtn29kqw5j.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:17Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15008200",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008200/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:2504|Magnetism in coordination complexes",
      "subfield": "materials-polymers"
    }
  ],
  "title": "A tetrahedral four-center–one-electron lanthanide–lanthanide bond",
  "title_text": "A tetrahedral four-center–one-electron lanthanide–lanthanide bond",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:17Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dszrtn29kqw5j",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}