Isotope Effects in Electron Exchange Reactions

Abstract

It has been known that uranium chemical exchange gives relatively large isotope separation factors. The strange isotope effects of uranium gave a clue to solve the hidden isotope effects of electronic states. The present paper discusses recently observed isotope effects in two typical electron-exchange systems of amalgam formation and redox reactions in ion exchange chromatography. Attention has been placed on the temperature dependence of the isotopic fractionations. The results clearly show that the separation coefficient ε is expressed by the temperature dependence of ε=a/T ²-b/T. The unit mass separation coefficients εΔM were calculated and compared among the examined elements of Li, Rb, Mg, Ba in the amalgam system and Fe, Cu, Eu in the redox ion exchange systems.

KEYWORDS:

• isotopes
• electron exchange
• ion exchange
• redox
• isotope effects
• separation coefficient
• field shift
• chromatography
• amalgams
• temperature dependence