Chemistry Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory , Los Alamos, NM 87545, United States.
Anal Chem. 2014 Jan 21;86(2):1153-9. doi: 10.1021/ac402997e. Epub 2014 Jan 7.
As part of a nuclear forensics capability, rapid and effective methods to analyze for plutonium and other actinide metals are needed. A key requirement of these methods is that they afford a high chemical yield while still providing isotopic information necessary for forensic evaluation. Toward this objective, a new method for binding plutonium for analysis by alpha spectrometry has been developed. Thin films of Kläui-type tripodal oxygen donor ligands were prepared by spin-casting solutions onto glass substrates. Three different ligands were evaluated for plutonium binding, and the best results were obtained using the ethyl-substituted complex Na[Cp*Co(P(O)(OEt)2)3], which bound 80-88% of the dissolved Pu under equilibrium conditions. The thin films are simple and inexpensive to prepare and exhibit excellent alpha spectral resolution, having line widths of ~33 keV. The method has been successfully applied to analyze for plutonium in both an archived nuclear debris sample and a certified environmental soil sample. The results obtained from the soil analysis are in good agreement with the certified values, demonstrating the effectiveness of the method for rapid plutonium analysis.
作为核取证能力的一部分，需要快速有效的方法来分析钚和其他锕系金属。这些方法的一个关键要求是，它们在提供用于法医评估的必需同位素信息的同时，还能提供高的化学收率。针对这一目标，已经开发出一种用于通过α谱分析结合钚的新方法。通过将 Kläui 型三脚架氧供体配体的溶液旋涂到玻璃基底上来制备薄膜。评估了三种不同的配体用于结合钚，使用取代的乙基络合物 Na[Cp*Co(P(O)(OEt)2)3]获得了最佳结果，在平衡条件下可结合 80-88%的溶解 Pu。薄膜的制备简单且廉价，并表现出优异的α光谱分辨率，线宽约为 33 keV。该方法已成功应用于分析存档核碎片样品和认证环境土壤样品中的钚。从土壤分析中获得的结果与认证值吻合良好，证明了该方法用于快速分析钚的有效性。
