“…Only ah andful of neutral ligandst hat exhibit high selectivity for light lanthanides in solvent extraction systems have been previously described. [5][6][7][8] Them ajorityo ft he known ligandse xhibit the reverse trend, that is, by being more selectivet owardsh eavy lanthanides.E xamples include acidic compounds, such as bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA), [9] am ixture of phosphinica nd phosphonic acids (Cyanex572) [10] and bis(2ethylhexyl)phosphinic acid, [11] and neutral compounds, [12] such as N,N,N',N'-tetraoctyldiglycolamide (TODGA), [13][14][15] trialkylphosphine oxides( e.g.,C yanex9 23) [16] and bis-triazinylpyridine, [17][18][19] to mention but afew.…”