School for Radiological and Interdisciplinary Sciences (RAD-X), Soochow University and Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiation Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, 199 Ren'ai Road, Suzhou 215123, China.
Engineering Laboratory of Specialty Fibers and Nuclear Energy Materials, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315201, China.
Nat Commun. 2017 Mar 14;8:14438. doi: 10.1038/ncomms14438.
Lanthanides possess similar chemical properties rendering their separation from one another a challenge of fundamental chemical and global importance given their incorporation into many advanced technologies. New separation strategies combining green chemistry with low cost and high efficiency remain highly desirable. We demonstrate that the subtle bonding differences among trivalent lanthanides can be amplified during the crystallization of borates, providing chemical recognition of specific lanthanides that originates from Ln coordination alterations, borate polymerization diversity and soft ligand coordination selectivity. Six distinct phases are obtained under identical reaction conditions across lanthanide series, further leading to an efficient and cost-effective separation strategy via selective crystallization. As proof of concept, Nd/Sm and Nd/Dy are used as binary models to demonstrate solid/aqueous and solid/solid separation processes. Controlling the reaction kinetics gives rise to enhanced separation efficiency of Nd/Sm system and a one-step quantitative separation of Nd/Dy with the aid of selective density-based flotation.
镧系元素具有相似的化学性质，因此将它们彼此分离具有重要的基础化学和全球意义，因为它们被纳入了许多先进技术中。新的分离策略需要结合绿色化学、低成本和高效率，这仍然是非常需要的。我们证明，在硼酸盐的结晶过程中，三价镧系元素之间的细微键合差异可以被放大，从而提供对特定镧系元素的化学识别，这种识别源于 Ln 配位变化、硼酸盐聚合多样性和软配体配位选择性。在整个镧系元素系列中，在相同的反应条件下获得了六个不同的相，进一步通过选择性结晶实现了高效和具有成本效益的分离策略。作为概念验证，Nd/Sm 和 Nd/Dy 被用作二元模型，以证明固/液和固/固分离过程。控制反应动力学可以提高 Nd/Sm 体系的分离效率，并借助选择性基于密度的浮选一步定量分离 Nd/Dy。
