Chemistry and Materials Science Seminar: Macrocyclic Chelators for Sustainable Lanthanide Separations by Selective Precipitation
Chemistry and Materials Science Seminar
Macrocyclic Chelators for Sustainable Lanthanide Separations by Selective Precipitation
Kelsea Jones, PhD
IOCB Prague, COS/SCMS alum
Event Details: Neodymium-based magnets are a vital component of modern technology, from smartphones and speakers to electric motors and wind turbines. Despite their name, they require a mixture of lanthanides—often neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, and dysprosium—in order to achieve the desired magnetic properties. Unfortunately, production of these lanthanides currently relies on unsustainable mining practices and solvent-extraction separations. One obvious solution is to recycle these magnets, but the necessary lanthanide separations are notoriously difficult. In the interest of sustainability, this work introduces a class of macrocyclic, dota-derived chelators bearing aromatic pendant arms, which yield interesting aqueous solubility profiles across the lanthanide series and thereby enable lanthanide separations. These solubility trends are the result of intermolecular bridging, as demonstrated by crystal-structure analysis. The behavior is tuned by introducing a small coordinating ligand to the system (i.e., acetate). Reprocessing the resulting supernatant and precipitate phases allows for further enrichment of each. Reaction conditions are optimized for aqueous separations of those lanthanides found in neodymium magnets recovered from electric automotive motors; the real-world utility of this process is demonstrated by treating a sample of those magnets to obtain a precipitate phase enriched to 99.7 % neodymium.
Intended Audience: All are Welcome
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