Research Fellow in Synthesis of Ligands for the Extraction of Uranium and Minor Actinides

Location: Leeds - Main Campus

Working time: 37.5 hours per week

Contract type: Fixed term (12 months - To complete specific time limited work)

Are you an experienced and ambitious researcher looking to tackle one of the UK’s biggest challenges? Do you have an interest in developing a commercial system for fusion reactors? Do you want to further your career in one of the UK’s leading research-intensive Universities?

This project is part of a new EU programme TRANSPARANT (Technological Research Action Necessary for Safe PARrtitioning And Nuclear Transmutation). The project will support researchers across the consortium by providing a supply of ligands for separation of uranium and minor actinides.

Work completed, at the University of Leeds, as part of a PhD project, developed efficient manufacture routes for complex, high-interest organic ligands such as the malonomides, diglycolamides, and bis-1,2,4-triazinyl-2-2’-bipyridines (BTBPs). Of specific interest was the monoamide DEHiBA (N,N-di-(2-ethylhexyl) isobutyramide), which is an exciting ligand for the advancement of nuclear reprocessing. DEHIBA offers the capability to selectively extract uranium devoid of plutonium, providing proliferation resistance and access to a replacement process for PUREX.

Another ligand of specific interest to researchers on TRANSPARANT, is the "CHON" compatible, water-soluble ligand 3,3'-(pyridine-2,6-diylbis(1H-1,2,3-triazole-4,1-diyl))bis(propan-1-ol) (PTD), which has shown promise for selectively stripping actinide ions from an organic phase containing both actinide and lanthanide ions.

This project will focus on PTD. The synthesis routes available will be reviewed and a set of experiments will be designed to determine an optimised set of conditions for the most economic route that will be related to full scale production. The route will then be tested by producing PTD ligand for supply to other partners for use in their experiments. Depending on the cost of raw reagent, up to 250mL of purified ligand will be produced.

The project will last for 12 months and will require on-campus working.

We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements.

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact:

Associate Professor David Harbottle

Email: D.Harbottle@leeds.ac.uk

Please note that this post may be suitable for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route but first-time applicants might need to qualify for salary concessions. For more information, please visit the Government’s Skilled Worker visa page.

For research and academic posts, we will consider eligibility under the Global Talent visa. For more information, please visit the Government’s page, Apply for the Global Talent visa.

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