[en] Neodymium and its compounds are being increasingly applied in the manufacture of new materials. In nuclear area neodymium isotopes are used in a variety of scientific applications. Nd-142 has been used to produce short-lived Tm and Yb isotopes. Nd-146 has been suggested to produce Pm-147 and Nd-150 has been used to study double beta decay. Due to the several modern applications using nanomaterials, more and more highly rare earth compounds have been demanded. The researches at IPEN uses the experience gained in rare earth separation for the preparation of some pure acetates, purity > 99.9% for application in nanotechnology research. A simple and economical chemical process to obtaining neodymium acetate of high purity is studied. The raw material in the form of mixed rare earths carbonate comes from Brazilian monazite. It is used the technique of strong cationic exchange resin, proper to water treatment, to the neodymium's fractionation and it is achieved a purity of 99.9% in Nd₂O₃ and yield greater than or equal 80%, with the elution of rare earths by EDTA solution in pH controlled. The complex of EDTA-neodymium is transformed in neodymium oxide, subsequently the oxide is dissolved in acetic acid to obtain the neodymium acetate. The solid salt was characterized via molecular absorption spectrophotometry, mass spectrometry, thermal analysis, chemical analysis and X ray diffraction. In summary the analytical data collected allowed to conclude that the stoichiometric formula for the neodymium acetate prepared is Nd(CH ₃COOH)3.1.5H₂O. (author)