Assembled diglycolamide for f-element ions sequestration at high acidity

Diglycolamides (DGA) form reverse-micellar type of supramolecular aggregates upon equilibration with a nitric acid solution that enhances DGA affinity extraordinary towards f-elements. To mimic DGA aggregates, DGA molecules have been preorganized on chemical platforms to form assemblies having a good affinity towards f-elements. However, the synthetic procedures used are quite laborious that limits their large scale applications. To address this problem, a new DGA-bearing monomer N,N-dioctyl,N'-propyl-2-methylacrylamide diglycolamide has been synthesized. This DGA-methacrylate monomer can be polymerized easily, and shows an interesting affinity towards f-element ions both in monomeric and polymeric forms at high nitric acid concentrations. This makes it very promising for the development of fixed-site membranes, resins, and magnetic assemblies for a variety of applications. DGA-methacrylate monomer has been found to assemble on magnetic nanoparticles Fe3O4. DGA-methacrylate coated Fe3O4 particles capture representative trivalent actinide Am-241 with a very high efficiency. However, it has been observed that HNO3 induced preorganization of DGA-methacrylate plays an important role in sorption of f-element ions in the polymeric form and self-assembled molecules on the magnetic nanoparticles. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.