Thermodynamic studies of actinide complexes. 1. A reappraisal of the solution equilibria between plutonium(IV) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTAH4) in nitric media

Abstract A detailed reevaluation of the complexation equilibria of plutonium(IV) with the polyaminocarboxylic sequestering agent EDTA4− has been performed in 1 M (H,K)NO3 media at 298 K by means of visible absorption spectrophotometry and glass-electrode potentiometry at millimolar concentration levels. The high binding affinity even under strongly acidic conditions supports the exclusive formation of the neutral Pu(EDTA) complex over the range 0.01 ≤ [H+] ≤ 0.9 M with an apparent formation constant of log β110 = 25.8(1) at 0.9 M HNO3. Extrapolation to zero ionic strength using the SIT approach provides the first ever-reported NEA–TDB compliant estimate of β 110 0 ( log β 110 0 = 32.2 ( 3 )…