“…To investigate the effects of macrocyclic crown ether compounds on the extraction and separation of trivalent lanthanides/actinides, some extractants and synergistic agents derived from crown ethers were developed. For example, combined with 4-benzoyl-3-phenyl-5-isoxazolone (HPBI), the synergistic extraction D values of 15-crown-5 (15C5), benzo-15-crown-5 (B15C5, Figure S1), 1-benzyl-1-aza-15-crown-5 (BA15C5, Figure S1), and 2-[(1-aza-15-crown-5)-1-ylmethyl)]-4-(phenyldiazenyl)-naphthalen-1-ol (PDN1A15C5, Figure S1) for Eu(III) ions are 1.0, 0.5, 2.5, and 6.3 at pH 2.4, respectively . Specifically, the La(III), Pr(III), and Eu(III) ions are extracted as Ln(PBI) 3 ·2S complexes (S = PDN1A15C5), while the light lanthanoid(III) ions of the 4f-series (La–Gd) form the extraction complex as Ln(PBI) 3 ·S species (S = B15C5 and 15C5).…”