Investigation on the chemical behaviour of a crown ether irradiated in high gamma radiation fields

The performance, after irradiation at high gamma radiation doses, of the material known under the commercial name SrResin (Eichrom Industries, USA), consisting of a crown ether, 4,4′(5′)-bis(t-butyl-cyclohexane)-18-crown-6, in a solution of 1-octanol absorbed in a polymeric support, has been characterised. The matrix, disposed in columns moistened with dilute HNO3 or imbibed with 8 M HNO3, was irradiated with a 60Co radiation field at doses from 2 kGy up to 40 kGy, and the separative properties of the columns were measured through the barium–strontium separation. Although the effects of the irradiation are displacement of the elution volumes and an increase of losses of the elements, quantitative separation of barium and strontium is still feasible.