Advances in containment methods and plutonium recovery strategies that led to the structural characterization of plutonium(IV) tetrachloride tris-diphenylsulfoxide, PuCl₄(OSPh₂)₃

In an attempt to further advance the understanding of plutonium coordination chemistry, we report a robust method for recycling and obtaining plutonium aqueous stock solutions that can be used as a convenient starting material in plutonium synthesis. This approach was used to prepare and characterize plutonium(IV) tetrachloride tris-diphenylsulfoxide, PuCl₄(OSPh₂)₃, by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The PuCl₄(OSPh₂)₃compound represents a rare example of a 7-coordinate plutonium(IV) complex. Structural characterization of PuCl₄(OSPh₂)₃by X-ray diffraction utilized a new containment method for radioactive crystals. The procedure makes use of epoxy, polyimide loops, and a polyester sheath to provide a robust method for safely containing and easily handling radioactive samples. The described procedure is more user friendly than traditional containment methods that employ fragile quartz capillary tubes. Additionally, moving to polyester, instead of quartz, lowers the background scattering from the heavier silicon atoms.