An Automated Solvent Extraction Technique For Radio Chemical Group Separations: Application To The Analysis Of Glass Fragments By Thermal Neutron Activation

An apparatus suitable for automated radio chemical group separation by a solvent extraction technique is described, together with a scheme applicable to the determination of twenty five elements in milligram samples of glass by thermal neutron activation analysis. The separation scheme involves sequential extraction of five groups of trace elements from a perchloride acid solution of the glass by selective complexing with thenoyltrifluoroacetone, diethylammonium diethyldithiocarbamate and tributyl phosphate, under controlled pH conditions, individual y-ray spectra being resolved by a least squares fitting programme.