Exploration of the coordination chemistry and electronic structure of the actinides is fundamental to understanding factors that govern their reactivity during chemical processing and their behaviour in the environment. Here, we show the recent progress in how X-ray spectroscopy has allowed us to look more closely to these properties.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References
Yano, J. & Yachandra, V. K. X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Photosynth. Res. 102, 241–254 (2009).
Kaplan, U., Amayri, S., Drebert, J., Grolimund, D. & Reich, T. Plutonium mobility and reactivity in a heterogeneous clay rock barrier accented by synchrotron-based microscopic chemical imaging. Sci. Rep. 14, 3087 (2024).
Kuzenkova, A. S. et al. Neglected solid phase pentavalent plutonium carbonate in the environment. Environ. Sci. Nano 11, 4381–4390 (2024).
Margate, J. et al. Chronicles of plutonium peroxides: spectroscopic characterization of a new peroxo compound of Pu(IV). Chem. Commun. 60, 6260–6263 (2024).
Benarib, S. et al. Reductive hydrothermal conversion of uranyl oxalates into UO2+x monitored by in situ XANES analyses. Dalton Trans. 53, 13982–13995 (2024).
Kvashnina, K. O. & Butorin, S. M. High-energy resolution X-ray spectroscopy at actinide M 4,5 and ligand K edges: what we know, what we want to know, and what we can know. Chem. Commun. 58, 327–342 (2022).
Butorin, S. M., Kvashnina, K. O., Vegelius, J. R., Meyer, D. & Shuh, D. K. High-resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy as a probe of crystal-field and covalency effects in actinide compounds. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. 113, 8093–8097 (2016).
Kvashnina, K. O. & de Groot, F. M. F. Invisible structures in the X-ray absorption spectra of actinides. J. Electron Spectros. Relat. Phenomena 194, 88–93 (2014).
Silva, C. L. et al. On the origin of low-valent uranium oxidation state. Nat. Commun. 15, 6861 (2024).
Burrow, T. G. et al. Determination of Uranium central-field covalency with 3d4f resonant inelastic X-ray scattering. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 22570–22582 (2024).
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge M. R. Vejar, J. N. Wacker and R. J. Abergel for their feedback on this work. NextGen is supported by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development (NA-22) through the Nonproliferation Stewardship Program (NSP). This manuscript was assembled with support from the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Heavy Element Chemistry Program at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) under contract DE-AC02-05CH11231.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zengotita, F.E., Gunther, S.O. Examining actinides with X-ray spectroscopy. Nat Rev Chem 9, 8–9 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-024-00679-y
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-024-00679-y