Interaction of actinide cations with synthetic polyelectrolytes

The binding of Am+3, Th+4 and UO2+2 to polymaleic acid, polyethylenemaleic acid and polymethylvinylethermaleic acid has been measured by a solvent extraction technique at 250C and either 0.02 or 0.10 M ionic strength. The solutions were buffered over a pH range such that the percent of carboxylate groups ionized ranged from 25 to 74%. The binding was described by two constants, β1 and β2, which were evaluated after correction for complexation of the actinide cations by acetate and hydrolysis. For comparable degrees of ionization, all three polyelectrolytes showed similar binding strengths. In general, these results indicated that the binding of actinides to these synthetic polyelectrolytes is basically similar to that of natural polyelectrolytes such as humic and fulvic acids. (orig.)