The interaction of uranyl chloride with hydrazine, ammonia and amines

Abstract

Solid systems of composition UO 2Cl 2·4H 2H 4, UO 2Cl 2·3NH 3 and UO 2Cl 2·23RHN 2 (R = CH 3, C 2H 5, C 3H 7, and C 4H 9) were prepared. Of these only UO 2Cl 2·3NH 3 is stable up to 200°. The UO 2Cl 2-RNH 2 systems underwent a slow redox reaction giving UO 2, ligand hydrochloride and polymeric materials as the solid products. The polymeric materials containing carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen appeared to be primarily polymers of alkyl imine, produced from the corresponding amine by dehydrogenation. In UO 2Cl 2-n- and i-butylamine systems the amine also seems to be involved in the polymerization. In the UO 2Cl 2-t-butylamine redox reaction, isobutylene and a branched hexane or hexene were identified in the volatile products. The only oxidation products in the UO 2Cl 2N 2H 4 system were non-condensable gases (N 2 and H 2). Aqueous 10 M hydrazine was found to reduce solid UO 2Cl 2, but not UO 3, to solid UO 2 at room temperature.