A novel task specific ionic liquid for Am (III) and Eu (III) extraction

Separation of long-lived actinides and fission product nuclides from the high level waste (HLW) leads to the effective remediation of the latter from its harmful effects. Diglycolamide extractants have been quite effective for the purpose of 'minor actinide partitioning'. Room temperature ionic liquids have shown promise due to remarkably large enhancements in the extraction of metal ions. Recently, diglycolamide extractants have been shown to be highly efficient in ionic liquid medium as well. Task specific ionic liquids (TSIL), which have a functional group grafted on to the ionic liquid have shown highly efficient metal ion extraction. Though diglycolamide functionalized TSILs have shown promise, we thought it of interest to evaluate a glycolamide functionalized TSIL for the extraction of actinide ions including the trivalent, Am³⁺. TSIL has been synthesized, purified and characterized using different techniques like NMR, FTIR, MS