Ligand structure and diluent nature in defining improved Am and Cm separation using diglycolamides: a combined solvent extraction and DFT study.

Separation of Am and Cm is one of the most challenging yet unavoidable steps in the back end of the nuclear cycle. Various ligands evaluated for Am/Cm separation have their own merits and demerits, and not a single ligand has been uniquely proposed for this purpose. In the present work, we evaluated ,,','-tetra--octyldiglycolamide (TODGA) ,,','-tetra-2-ethylhexyldiglycolamide (T2EHDGA) in combination with a hydrophilic 2,6-bis(1,2,4-triazinyl)pyridine (SOPhBTP) derivative in the aqueous phase for the separation of Am and Cm from nitric acid medium. The results showed that marginal selectivity for Am over Cm was observed with T2EHDGA in the presence of SOPhBTP, which was attributed to the difference in the entropy change for their extraction from both the temperature-dependent liquid-liquid extraction and computational studies.