Specific cooperative effect of a macrocyclic receptor for metal ion transfer into an ionic liquid
Okamura, Hiroyuki
; Ikeda, Atsushi*
; Saito, Takumi*; Aoyagi, Noboru
; Naganawa, Hirochika
; Hirayama, Naoki*; Umetani, Shigeo*; Imura, Hisanori*; Shimojo, Kojiro

An intramolecular cooperative extraction system for the removal of strontium cations (Sr
) from water by use of a novel macrocyclic receptor (H
DA18C6) composed of diaza-18-crown-6 and two
-diketone fragments in ionic liquid (IL) is reported, together with X-ray spectroscopic characterization of the resulting extracted complexes in the IL and chloroform phases. The covalent attachment of two
-diketone fragments to a diazacrown ether resulted in a cooperative interaction within the receptor for Sr
transfer, which remarkably enhanced the efficiency of Sr
transfer relative to a mixed
-diketone and diazacrown system. The intramolecular cooperative effect was observed only in the IL extraction system, providing a 500-fold increase in extraction performance for Sr
over chloroform. Slope analysis and potentiometric titration confirmed that identical extraction mechanisms operated in both the IL and chloroform systems. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy revealed that the average distance between Sr
and O atoms in the Sr
complex was shorter in IL than in chloroform. Consequently, Sr
was held by H
DA18C6 more rigidly in IL than in chloroform, representing an important factor dominating the magnitude of the intramolecular cooperative effect of H
DA18C6 for Sr
.