Remarkably High Separation of Neodymium from Praseodymium by Selective Dissolution from their Oxide Mixture using an Ionic Liquid Containing aβ-Diketone.

A simple, efficient, direct and economical method for the mutual separation of Nd and Pr was developed by the selective dissolution of Nd 2 O 3 from their oxide mixtures in an ionic liquid containing 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone (HTTA) resulting in an unprecedented separation factor (β Nd/Pr )>500, which is 277 times more than the thus far reported β Nd/Pr values. The proposed mechanism was supported by DFT computations.