Analytical Sciences

Highly Practical and Simple Ligand for Separation of Am(III) and Eu(III) from Highly Acidic Media

Hideya SUZUKI,* Yasuhiro TSUBATA,* Tatsuya KUROSAWA,* Mitsunobu SHIBATA,* Tomohiro KAWASAKI,* Shunichi URABE,** and Tatsuro MATSUMURA*

*Nuclear Science and Engineering Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai-mura, Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan
**Nuclear Engineering Co., Ltd., Tokai-mura, Ibaraki 319-1112, Japan

A new, high-performance, highly practical, simple reagent called alkyl diamide amine (ADAAM) was examined for the separation of Am(III) and Eu(III). ADAAM has three donor atoms, one soft N-donor atom and two hard O-donor atoms, on a central frame. The combination of soft and hard donor atoms affords a tridentate that ensures remarkable extraction ability and selectivity of Am(III) and Eu(III) from highly acidic media (1.5 M HNO₃) with a separation factor up to 25.

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