Adsorption of Zr4+, Hf4+, Rf4+ and Po4+ diketonate complexes on hydrophobized glass surface

Abstract

Studies of the complexes of the title ions with α and β diketonate ligands were performed with the aim of verifying the influence of relativistic effects upon the coordination number of rutherfordium. Since the diketonate complexes are volatile, we developed a new solid-liquid extraction system based on the adsorption of neutral complexes on hydrophobized glass surfaces. This system was applied to the studies of complexation of the short-lived isotopes Zr⁴⁺, Hf⁴⁺, Po⁴⁺ and Rf⁴⁺. The procedure including collection of radioactivity, adsorption of complexes and preparation of the α-source, took roughly 50–60 seconds to complete. The obtained results show that studies of adsorption on hydrophobized glass surface may provide important experimental data on the formation of chelate complexes with short-lived radionuclides.