New tripodal gem-(bis-phosphonates) uranophiles were discovered by a screening method that allowed for the selection of ligands with strong uranyl-binding properties in a convenient microtiter-plate format. The method is based on competitive uranium binding by using Sulfochlorophenol S as chromogenic chelate. This dye compound was found to present high uranyl complexation properties and allowed...

More than 50 uranyl minerals, phases containing U as the uranyl UO2 2+ cation, and hydroxide, carbonate, phosphate, and silicate anions, H2O, and alkali and alkaline earth cations, occur in nature and as corrosion products of spent nuclear fuel. Despite their importance and the need to understand their thermodynamics to predict uranium solubility, fate, and transport in the environment, reliabl...

Solid-state H magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR was used to investigate local proton environments in anhydrous [UO2(OH)2] (α-UOH) and hydrated uranyl hydroxide [(UO2)4O(OH)6·5H2O (metaschoepite). For the metaschoepite material, proton resonances of the μ2-OH hydroxyl and interlayer waters were resolved, with twodimensional (2D) double-quantum (DQ) H−H NMR correlation experiments revealing strong d...

The local structures of U(V1) oxide precipitates produced as a function of LiOH concentration have been studied by XAFS. Curve-fitting analyses indicate that the solid formed in 0.1 M LiOH is similar to a schoepite-like phase where distinct linear uranyl ions (UO?) are bridged along the equator by OH ions. At higher LiOH concentrations, the uranyl groups become elongated and the precipitate str...

Pentaammine dioxido uranium(VI) dibromide ammonia (1/1), [UO2(NH3)5]Br2·NH3, was synthesized in the form of yellow crystals by the reaction of uranyl bromide, UO2Br2, with dry liquid ammonia. The compound crystallizes orthorhombic in space group Cmcm and is isotypic to [UO2(NH3)5]Cl2·NH3 with a = 13.2499(2), b = 10.5536(1), c = 8.9126(1) Å, V = 1246.29(3) Å(3) and Z = 4 at 123 K. The UO2(2+) ca...

Electrospray ionization was used to generate mono-positive gas-phase complexes of the general formula [UO2A(S)n]+ where A = OH, Cl, Br, I or ClO4, S = H2O, CH3OH or CH3CH2OH, and n = 1-3. The multiple-stage dissociation pathways of the complexes were then studied using ion-trap mass spectrometry. For H2O-coordinated cations, the dissociation reactions observed included the elimination of H2O li...

The nucleoids of Eseherichia coil, independently of the physiological state of the bacteria, are shown to be preserved as a fine-stranded fibrillar nucleoplasm by an OsO4 fixation under defined conditions: acetate-veronal buffer pH 6, presence of Ca ++ and amino acids, stabilization with uranyl-acetate before dehydration. The same fixation procedure applied to the DNA of vegetative phage reveal...