Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6871-5828

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

2022

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Chemistry

First Advisor

Pere PM Miro

Abstract

Actinide molecular metal oxides are a family of clusters composed of a variable number of An(IV) centers connected through a network of oxygen and hydroxide ligands with many potential applications in nuclear waste reprocessing and environmental remediation. However, our knowledge regarding the aqueous speciation of actinide ions and their preferred nucleation pathway to form high nuclearity clusters is limited compared to their transition metal counterparts. Here, we present a computational study on the speciation and nucleation of actinide ions up to 4+ in aqueous media in the presence of zwitterionic glycine ligands. Both eight and nine coordinated species were considered. In both, the exchange of aquo ligands by zwitterionic glycine is thermodynamically favorable, which causes significantly decreasing the number of available An(IV)-H2O moieties. Both olation and oxolation reaction pathways were studied towards the formation of dimeric intermediates.

Subject Categories

Computer Sciences

Keywords

Actinide molecular metal oxides

Number of Pages

99

Publisher

University of South Dakota

Available for download on Friday, January 31, 2025

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