Synergistic Solvent Extraction of Am(iii) and Eu(iii) With the Soft Donor Triisobutylphosphine Sulfide and Thenoyltrifluoroacetone

The synergistic solvent extraction of Am(III) and Eu(III) with the neutral soft donor TIBPS and HTTA has been investigated using cyclohexane as the organic solvent and at an ionic strength of 0.1 M (NaCIO4). The extracted species are [M(TTA)2)] and [M(TTA)2 (Clo4) (TIBPS)] The extraction constants show that the synergistic factor is less than that for the analogous hard donor adducts (e.g., TBP and TOPO) and no preferential extraction of Am(III) over Eu(III) is observed.