Physical and radiolytic properties of boron-containing ionic liquids

CHED 1131

Alejandra Castano, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the Graduate Center of CUNY, Queen College, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367, Sharon I. Lall-Ramnarine, slallramnarine@qcc.cuny.edu, Department of Chemistry, Queensborough Community College, CUNY, 222-05 56th Avenue, Bayside, NY 11364, and James F. Wishart, wishart@bnl.gov, Chemistry Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973.
The potential utility of ionic liquids for the processing of radioactive material is being investigated through the use of pulse radiolysis techniques. Ionic liquids containing the bis(oxalato)borate (BOB-) anion are being investigated for this application. BOB- containing liquids are of particular interest because of the neutron scavenging ability of boron-10. Calculations by others have shown that ionic liquids containing boron can be used to handle higher concentrations of fissile material than conventional solvents without the risk of criticality. Cations such as 1-methyl-3-pentylimidazolium (C5mim) and an homologous series of pyrrolidinium types were synthesized using both thermal and microwave-assisted techniques. Results of pulse radiolysis experiments indicate that the BOB- anion is susceptible to reaction with the solvated electron. Supported in part at BNL by DOE Basic Energy Sciences under contract # DE-AC02-98CH10886.
 

Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Environmental Chemistry
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The 233rd ACS National Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 25-29, 2007