Heavy metal chelation has a wide variety of applications including nuclear waste remediation, MRI contrast agents, and chelation therapy. The TRUEX nuclear waste remediation process currently employs carbamoylmethyl phosphine oxides (CMPOs) as bidentate chelation agents to remove heavy, f-series metals from spent nuclear fuel. However, single CMPO units are promiscuous in their selectivity and many metals require a greater denticity than provided by three solitary CMPOs. Our lab is currently interested in organizing CMPO units on a tripodal cap to take advantage of the chelate effect. We are also interested in derivatizing these ligands to increase the affinity and selectivity of metal binding. Current efforts toward the synthesis of these compounds will be discussed.

Synthesis of tripodal CMPO compounds for heavy metal chelation

245th National Meeting (2013)

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