This award will enable Dr. Jerald S. Bradshaw of Brigham Young University to collaborate with Dr. Leonard F. Lindoy of James Cook University, Townsville, Australia in the development of separation techniques for important heavy metal cations. A series of synthetic compounds which selectively complex with heavy metal cations will be prepared. The best of these heavy metal cation complexing agents will then be modified for testing as heavy metal cation carriers in a bulk liquid membrane system and will be attached to silica gel to test their use in separating specific cations from a multi-cation system. The development of extraction techniques for the selective recovery of metals from solution is critical to the advancement of technologies related to metal processing and environmental cleanup. Dr. Lindoy's group has expertise in the synthesis and heavy metal complexation properties of oxygen-nitrogen donor ligands. Dr. Bradshaw's group has extensive experience in the selective separation of cations. Thus, the research will benefit significantly from the complementary skills of the investigators.
