Anion-exchange of thorium on DEAE-cellulose in methanol-nitric acid media

Many metals do not favor the DEAE-cellulose to any great extent from aqueous nitric acid solutions. However, thorium exhibits an enhanced adsorption on DEAE from mixed methanol-nitric acid media. This behavior of thorium on DEAE allows to develop a highly selective method for the separation of thorium. Even barium, bismuth (III), the rare earths and lead (II), which are adsorbed tightly on a strongly basic anion-exchange resin Dowex 1 from the methanolic acid media, do not show any marked adsorption on DEAE. Thus, as little as 100 μg thorium can be separated quantitatively from a hundred times as much other metal ions on a small column containing 1 g DEAE in methanol-nitric acid (20 : 1, v/v) media. The concentration of nitric acid may be allowed to vary in a wide range of 1 to 13 M.Increasing amounts of DEAE should be used with increasing amounts of thorium to be loaded on the column. Quantitative separations of thorium from thirty metals were reported.