Development of extraction chromatographic agents based on nitrogen-donor ligand for the separation of actinide

Ogata, Takeshi*; Takeshita, Kenji*; Oaki, Hiroshi*; Inaba, Yusuke*; Mori, Atsunori*; Matsumura, Tatsuro  ; Nakano, Yoshio*

N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine (TPEN) is one of the podand-type ligands with six nitrogen-donors and recognize the slight difference in the softness between Am(III) and Eu(III). We have tried to synthesize a novel extraction chromatographic agent, which exploit such feature of TPEN. The use of the polymer gel as a support of the extractant can be expect to suppress the elution of the extractant and keep the flexibility of extractant. N,N,N',N'-tetrakis-(4-propenyloxy-2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine (TPPEN) which is TPEN analog introducing polymerizable group to pyridine ring was used as a cross-linker of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPA). Furthermore, the TPPEN-NIPA gel on highly porous silica was prepared to improve the mechanical strength of the gel. These extraction chromatographic agents have been tested for the separation of Am(III) and Eu(III). Characterization and extraction performance of the extraction chromatographic agents will be described.