{
  "abstract": "Mutual actinide separation is critical for nuclear waste remediation, superheavy-element production, and f-block-element-based radiopharmaceuticals, yet it remains a formidable challenge owing to the high chemical similarity of these elements and the harsh conditions typically encountered, such as high acidity and intense radioactivity. Here, we show that combining lipophilic TODGA with the histidine-decorated hydrophilic ligand Phen-2DIHis enables the efficient separation of Am­(III), Cm­(III), and Cf­(III) under highly acidic conditions. This system provides substantially enhanced separation factors for both Am­(III)/Cf­(III) (383) and Cm­(III)/Cf­(III) (36.9) compared to benchmark methods while maintaining practical metal distributions by directing the targeted actinide ions into opposite phases. Spectroscopic titrations and slope analyses support predominant 1:1 metal–ligand complexation. Theoretical calculations further suggest that nitrate-involved outer-sphere hydrogen bonding from the histidine termini may contribute unexpectedly to the thermodynamic bias for separation processes. These results highlight weak interactions beyond the inner coordination sphere as a critical design handle for mutual actinide separation under strongly acidic conditions.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing 100084, China",
    "Department of Chemistry, Capital Normal University, Haidian District, Beijing 100048 China",
    "Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, China"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Bin Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zhiyuan Zeng",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1916-2996"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Ziyi Zhang",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-8150-5052"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yu Kang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Zehui Xu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Xiaoyan Tang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0050-6699"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Li Wang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5315-0593"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Chao Xu",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5539-4754"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7vmw44w7kw8g1.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1021/acscentsci.6c01133",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13720919/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "7vmw44w7kw8g1",
  "issns": [
    "2374-7943",
    "2374-7951"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13720919",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
    [
      "lcc",
      "QD1-999"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1604|Radioactive element chemistry and processing"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213556062",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13720919/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13720919",
  "pmid": "42964970",
  "published": "2026-09-01",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7vmw44w7kw8g1.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T12:21:36Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13720919",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13720919"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T14:22:11Z",
      "native_id": "2cefc66e30ee41f7941a783821d085ea",
      "source": "doaj",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.6c01133"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-03T12:21:42Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13720919",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1021/acscentsci.6c01133"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1604|Radioactive element chemistry and processing",
      "subfield": "inorganic"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Outer-Sphere Hydrogen Bonds Amplify Mutual Actinide Separation",
  "title_text": "Outer-Sphere Hydrogen Bonds Amplify Mutual Actinide Separation",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-03T12:21:42Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7vmw44w7kw8g1",
  "venue": "ACS central science",
  "versions": []
}