title: Chemical controls on uranyl citrate speciation and the self-assembly of nanoscale macrocycles and sandwich complexes in aqueous solutions.
abstract: Uranyl citrate forms trimeric species at pH > 5.5, but exact structural characteristics of these important oligomers have not previously been reported. Crystallization and structural characterization of the trimers suggests the self-assembly of the 3 : 3 and 3 : 2 U : Cit complexes into larger sandwich and macrocyclic molecules. Raman spectroscopy and ESI-MS have been utilized to investigate the relative abundance of these species in solution under varying pH and citrate concentrations. Additional dynamic light scattering experiments indicate that self-assembly of the larger molecules does occur in aqueous solution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. tori-forbes@uiowa.edu.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Basile
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Unruh
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gojdas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Streicher
authors.forename: T Z
authors.initials: TZ
authors.lastname: Forbes
mesh_terms: D019343:Citric Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D047028:Macrocyclic Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions; D017974:Uranium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D047028:Macrocyclic Compounds; D012996:Solutions; D017974:Uranium Compounds; D014867:Water; D019343:Citric Acid