Separation of 221 Fr from 225 Ac using diglycolamide solid extractants

This work is focused on the separation of a daughter radionuclide 221 Fr from medicinal 225 Ac to provide a source of pure 221 Fr fraction for other studies. To achieve such a goal, diglycolamide extraction agents were immobilized on polymer matrix and tested in extraction chromatography experiments. Particularly experiments with N , N , N ´, N ´tetrakis2-ethylhexyldiglycolamide in nitric acid medium provided promising results and the material was further studied in column experiments. The chosen conditions of separation provided 221 Fr in yields over 65% with 225 Ac contamination under 1% in less than 5 min, which is a sufficient proof of concept suitable for further studies.