Chemists just tied uranium to carbon — three bonds deep

Stephen Liddle's chemistry team has isolated a crystalline uranium compound where uranium and carbon share a rare triple bond — a Fischer-type carbyne, confirmed by quantum crystallography. The bond even forms two-way: carbon donates electrons to uranium while uranium donates back, in an unusual orthogonal arrangement. It's fundamental chemistry, but it redraws the map of what actinides can do. Published in Nature Chemistry.