Design of a ligand suitable for sensitive uranyl analysis in aqueous solutions

Abstract

Several ligands were designed as plausible reagents for the spectrophotometric analysis of uranyl in aqueous solutions. The ligand  = 3,3′-(ethane-1,2-diylbis(methylazanediyl))bis(methylene)bis(4-hydroxybenzenesulfonate) was found to fit best the requirements. The results point out that carboxylate substituents compete with the phenolate substituents as binding sites to the central uranium cation and therefore decrease the usefulness of ligands containing both carboxylate and phenolate substituents as analytical spectrophotometric reagents.

Keywords:

• Uranyl
• Spectrophotometric analysis
• Spectrophotometric reagent
• Carboxylate substituents
• Phenolate substituents

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

This article is dedicated to Professor Rudi van Eldik, a colleague and friend, upon his 70th birthday.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a joint grant between the JRC and NRCN for which I.Z. and D.M. are most grateful.