Actinide chemistry in the EMIC/AlCl3 room temperature ionic liquid

We have previously reported on the redox behavior of uranyl chloride in acidic ionic liquids. The uranyl moiety is unstable to oxygen loss in this melt with the concomitant growth of a uranium (V) chloride species. We proposed that an equilibrium is established between the Lewis acidic Al2Cl7 and the uranium oxy-chloride species. Similar behavior may be expected for plutonium oxide species. We have demonstrated that a basic EMIC/AlCl3 solution of PuCl3 displays one reversible oxidation and an irreversible reduction. The reversible wave has been confirmed to be associated with the Pu (III)/Pu (IV) redox couple by comparison with the cyclic voltammogram of an authentic sample of Cs2PuCl6. The irreversible reduction wave is believed to come from the reduction of a plutonium oxide contaminant. In this talk we focus on our work on the chemistry of uranium and plutonium ore-complexes in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride / aluminum chloride ionic liquid.