Sorption study of U on poly[dibenzo-18-crown-6] in L-arginine to develop sequential column chromatographic separation method

A simple and efficient column chromatographic method has been developed for the sequential separation of U (VI), Th(IV) and Ce(III) using poly[dibenzo-18-crown-6] as stationary phase and L-arginine as a counter ion. The different elution patterns with various eluting agents were observed for individual element. The capacity of poly[dibenzo-18-crown-6] for U (VI), Th(IV) and for Ce(III) was found to be 0.96, 0.86 and 1.49 ([+ or -] 0.01) mmol/g of crown polymer, respectively. The method is efficient to separate the elements in multicomponent mixtures and has good recovery. The method is extended to determine the U (VI), Th(IV) and Ce(III) from monazite sand. The method is simple, rapid and selective having good reproducibility (~[+ or -] 2%). Keywords U (VI) * Th(IV) * Ce(III) * Poly[dibenzo-18-crown-6] * L-arginine * Separation