Experimental and theoretical studies on extraction of actinides and lanthanides by alicyclic H-phosphonates

Autor: Kari Vijayakrishna, C. V. S. Brahmmananda Rao, N. Sivaraman, Akella Sivaramakrishna, Suresh Annam, Gopinadhanpillai Gopakumar
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: Radiochimica Acta. 105:329-339
ISSN: 2193-3405
0033-8230
Popis: Three different alicyclic substituents H-phosphonates, namely, dicyclopentyl H-phosphonate, dicyclohexyl H-phosphonate and dimenthyl H-phosphonate were synthesized and used for liquid–liquid extraction of actinide elements (U, Am and Th) and lanthanide (Gd) in n-dodecane from nitric acid medium. The physicochemical properties of the extractants, such as density, viscosity, solubility were determined. At lower acidities, these H-phosphonates exhibit higher distribution values and the extraction following cation exchange mechanism through P–OH group of tri-coordinated phosphite form. At higher acidities (2N), the extraction is primarily via solvation mechanism through P=O group of penta-coordinated phosphonate form. Amongst the three H-phosphonates, examined dimenthyl H-phosphonate showed the best results for the actinide extraction. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were applied to understand the electronic structure of the ligands and the metal complexes. The calculated large complexation energy of UO2(NO3)2·2DMnHP is in agreement with the observed trend in experimental distribution ratio data.
Databáze: OpenAIRE