The proposed research aims to address some of the challenges facing current thrusts in nuclear waste treatment and remediation by understanding and controlling IL properties at the level of cation and anion interactions for the ultimate development and demonstration of viable IL-based technologies for targeted metal ion separations. This research will provide necessary fundamental information on the factors that facilitate/inhibit competing solvent extraction or cation/anion exchange mechanisms for metal ion partitioning with respect to tank wastes by understanding the influence of the IL components on metal ion coordination environments versus traditional molecular solvents.