Am(III)/Eu(III) separation with hydrophobic derivatives of TPEN

Matsumura, Tatsuro  ; Inaba, Yusuke*; Takeshita, Kenji*; Mori, Atsunori*

We are developing a new MA/Ln separation process with derivatives of TPEN (N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine) for P&T technology. TPEN has good selectivity of Am(III) from Ln(III). However, TPEN is soluble slightly (about 10 mol/l) to water. In this study, the hydrophobicity of TPEN is improved by introducing alkyl groups and the selectivity of Am(III) and Eu(III) is examined. We succeeded to synthesize several new hydrophobic derivative of TPEN. One of the ligands, TDdPEN (N,N,N',N'-tetrakis((5-dodecyloxypyridin-2-yl)-methyl)ethylenediamine) showed high selectivity. The maximum separation factor, SF, was over 800. Hydrophobic derivatives of TPEN that have potential of application to the MA/Ln separation process was synthesized successfully.