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Updated: Dec 28, 2025

Speciation and Bioavailability Measurements of Environmental Plutonium Using Diffusion in Thin Films
Published on: November 9, 2015
Structural and Spectroscopic Investigation of Two Plutonium Mellitates
Joseph M Sperling1, Alyssa N Gaiser1, Cory J Windorff1
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States.
Abstract:
The aqueous reaction of mellitic acid (H6mell) with 242PuBr3·nH2O forms two plutonium mellitates, 242Pu2(mell)(H2O)9·H2O (Pu-1α) and 242Pu2(mell)(H2O)8·2H2O (Pu-1β). These compounds are compared to the isomorphous lanthanide mellitates with similar ionic radii via bond length analysis. Both plutonium compounds form three-dimensional metal-organic frameworks, with Pu-1α having two unique metal centers and Pu-1β having one. All plutonium metal centers exhibit nine-coordinate geometries. Our results show metal-oxygen bond lengths for plutonium significantly shorter than those of the previously reported lanthanum and herein reported cerium analogues, consistent with the nine-coordinate ionic radii. Clear Laporte-forbidden 5f → 5f transitions are observed in the ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectra and are assigned to trivalent plutonium. However, there is a distinct color difference between the two plutonium compounds.
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