Synthesis of Anhydrous Acetates for the Components of Nuclear Fuel Recycling in Dialkylimidazolium Acetate Ionic Liquids.

A series of anhydrous acetate salts with uranium {[C2C1im][UO2(OAc)3] (1), [C2C2im][UO2(OAc)3] (2), and [C4C1im][UO2(OAc)3] (3)}, lanthanides {[C2C2im]2[La(OAc)5] (4) and [C2C1im]2[Nd(OAc)5] (5)}, and strontium {[C2C1im]n[Sr(OAc)3]n (6)} (where C2C1im = 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium, C2C2im = 1,3-diethylimidazolium, C4C1im = 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium, and OAc = acetate) have been prepared and structurally characterized. Both lanthanides and strontium are common components of the nuclear fuel waste, and their separation from uranium is an important but still challenging task. A new synthetic approach with dialkylimidazolium acetate ionic liquids (ILs) as the solvent has been developed for the direct synthesis of homoleptic acetates from the corresponding hydrates and, unexpectedly, hardly soluble f-element oxides. Although the group of characterized compounds shows perfect structural variability, all actinide and lanthanide metal ions form monomeric complex anions where the metal cation coordinates to five ligands including two oxygen atoms in the case of uranium, as is commonly observed for uranyl compounds. Crystallographic analyses revealed that the complex [UO2(OAc)3]- anions possess rather standard D3h symmetry featuring a hexagonal-bipyramidal coordination environment, while the lanthanide anions [Ln(OAc)5]2- are fully asymmetric and the Ln3+ cations are 10-coordinated in the form of a distorted bicapped tetragonal antiprism. This is the first report of lanthanide ions coordinated in this fashion. For Sr2+, 9-fold coordination through oxygen atoms in the form of a strongly distorted tricapped trigonal prism is observed. The crystallization of anhydrous, homoleptic, anionic acetate complexes from such a large variety of different metal salts appears to be due to the properties of dialkylimidazolium acetate ILs themselves, including enhanced basicity from the high concentration of free anions and their greater affinity for hydrogen-bonding solutes relative to metal cations.