Chelator-assisted high performance liquid chromatographic separation of trivalent lanthanides and actinides

While lanthanides and actinides are essential to many clean energy technologies, they are at high risk for supply chain disruption. As such, the development of recycling and recovery techniques for lanthanides and actinides is essential to avoid future shortages. Conventional reversed-phase chromatography cannot readily discriminate between the metals, making column modifications, such as adsorption of ion-pair agents, necessary to achieve element separation. In this work, we demonstrate that a siderophore-inspired synthetic derivative, 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO), can be used as an in situ chelating agent, promoting lanthanide and trivalent actinide separation in less than 15 min without column modification. By employing alternative chelating ligands, f-element separations are therefore achievable in chromatographic systems used in analytical laboratories around the world, creating new opportunities for the separation and recovery of these critical materials.