Zirconium(IV)-Benzene Phosphonate Coordination Polymers: Lanthanide and Actinide Extraction and Thermal Properties

Coordination polymers with different P/(Zr + P) molar ratios were prepared by combining aqueous solutions of Zr(IV) and benzenephosphonate derivatives. 1,3,5-Benzenetrisphosphonic acid (BTP) as well as phosphonocarboxylate derivatives in which carboxylate substitutes one or two of the phosphonate groups were chosen as the building blocks. The precipitates obtained on combining the two solutions were not X-ray amorphous but rather were indicative of poorly ordered materials. Hydrothermal treatment did not alter the structure of the materials produced but did result in improved crystalline order. The use of HF as a mineralizing agent during hydrothermal synthesis resulted in the crystallization of at least three relatively crystalline phases whose structure could not be determined owing to the complexity of the diffraction patterns. Gauging from the similarity of the diffraction patterns of all the phases, the poorly ordered precipitates and crystalline materials appeared to have similar underlying structures. The BTP-based zirconium phosphonates all showed a higher selectivity for lanthanides and thorium compared with cations such as Cs(+), Sr(2+), and Co(2+). Substitution of phosphonate groups by carboxylate groups did little to alter the pattern of selectivity implying that selectivity in the system was entirely determined by the -POH group with little influence from the -COOH groups. Samples with the highest phosphorus content showed the highest extraction efficiencies for lanthanide elements, especially the heavy lanthanides such as Dy(3+) and Ho(3+) with separation factors of around four with respect to La(3+). In highly acid solutions (4 M HNO3) there was a pronounced variation in extraction efficiency across the lanthanide series. In situ, nonambient diffraction was performed on ZrBTP-0.8 loaded with Th, Ce, and a complex mixture of lanthanides. In all cases the crystalline Zr2P2O7 pyrophosphate phase was formed at ∼800 °C demonstrating the versatility of this structure.