Isotope effects of magnesium in amalgam/organic solution systems

The isotope effects of magnesium in amalgam systems have been investigated employing different organic solvents. It has been observed that the isotope effect is caused by the equilibrium mechanism and that the light isotope is always enriched in the amalgam phase. The isotope effect has also been studied at several temperatures between -5 and 65 degrees C. It was found that the isotope separation coefficient decreases with increase in temperature. The temperature dependence of the isotope effect is fitted to an equation, epsilon = a/T + b/T-2, which has been shown to fit to other observed amalgam systems, such as Li, Rb and Ba. In the Mg(Hg)/MgCl2-DMF system at 293 K, the separation coefficient for Mg-26-Mg-24 has been measured as (1.04 +/- 0.21) x 10(-2).