Separation of Thorium(IV) from Associated Elements Using Poly-(Dibenzo-18-Crown-6) and Column Chromatography from Picric Acid Medium

A simple column chromatographic method has been developed for the separation of thorium(IV) from associated elements using poly-(dibenzo-18-crown-6). The separations are carried out from picric acid medium. The adsorption of thorium(IV) was quantitative from 0.0005–0.05M picric acid. Amongst the various eluents tested, 2.0–8.0M HCl, HBr, 1.0–6.0M HClO₄ and 5.0M acetic acid were found to be particularly efficient for the quantitative elution of thorium(IV). The capacity of poly-(dibenzo-18-crown-6) for thorium(IV) was found to be 1.29±0.01 mmol/g of crown polymer. Thorium(IV) was separated from a number of cations in binary mixtures in which most of the cations showed a very high tolerance limit. It was possible to separate thorium(IV) from a number of cations such as lanthanum(III), yttrium(III), uranium(VI), beryllium(II) and barium(II) in multicomponent mixtures. The method was extended to the determination of thorium in monazite sand. It is possible to separate and determine 5 ppm of thorium(IV) by this method. The method is very simple, rapid, selective and has good reproducibility (approximately ±2%).