SELECTIVE SEPARATION OF DISSOLVED METAL SPECIES WITH SUBSTITUTED 1,3,5 TRIAZINE EXTRACTANTS

摘要

A metal species (particularly an actinide, e.g. Am(III)) is extracted from a mixture (particularly one including lanthanide species e.g. Eu(III)) by adding a triazine compound to the mixture so that it forms a complex with the desired metal species; partitioning the system between organic and inorganic phases; and recovering the metal species from the organic phase. The triazine compound is a 1,3,5 triazine having heterocyclic substitutents at positons 2, 4, and 6, at least one of the heterocyclic substituents bearing at least one hydrophobic substituent such that the extractability of the compound from an aqueous phase into an organic phase is enhanced. It may be of formula (I) where R1, R2 and R3 are alkyl groups e.g. t-butyl.