Synergistic Aqueous Biphasic Separation of No‐Carrier‐Added ^71,72As from a Gallium Oxide Target Using Green Tea Polyphenols

Abstract

Environmentally benign aqueous biphasic separation (ABS) techniques have been developed to separate no‐carrier added (NCA) 71,72As from 46 MeV α‐particles irradiated gallium oxide target. Catechins were isolated from green tea leaves as a nature resourced chemical. Efficacy of catechins on aqueous biphasic separation of NCA 71,72As from bulk gallium was studied at best conditions and found that catechin acted as synergistic agent in the ABS system. Bulk gallium was preferentially extracted into the PEG+ catechins phase (wherein 2 M Na‐malonate was used as salt‐rich phase) with a separation factor of 2.06×103 leaving 71,72As in the salt rich phase. At this condition, 90 % 71,72As was retained in the salt rich phase with bulk gallium contamination less than 0.5 %.