Why do lanthanides have +3 oxidation state(most stable).

[Raghav Gupta]

Lanthanides can exhibit 2,4 states also but why 3 is most stable one?

 

[Borek]

Have you checked their electronic configuration?

 

[Raghav Gupta]

Have you checked their electronic configuration?

Yes, 4f^0-145d^0-16s².
So when d has 1 electron then we can say that there are 3 valence electrons but in case there are 0 electrons in d then it should be 2 , the most stable but that is not so.
What to do?

 

[Raghav Gupta]

Have you checked their electronic configuration?

You may think that I have understood or answered on my own in above post.
But carefully looking that is not so.
I mean when the elec. con. Is 4f^0-145d¹6s² the oxidation number is 3 which is okay but how when
elec. con. Is 4f^0-145d⁰6s² the oxidation number could be 3?
Shouldn't that be 2?