Precious metal extraction by N,N,N',N'-tetraoctyl-thiodiglycolamide and its comparison with N,N,N',N'-tetraoctyl-diglycolamide and methylimino-N,N'-dioctylacetamide

Sasaki, Yuji  ; Morita, Keisuke ; Saeki, Morihisa*; Hisamatsu, Shugo; Yoshizuka, Kazuharu*

The novel tridentate extractant including soft donor has developed and examined. The extractant, tetraoctyl-thiodiglycolamide (TDGA), is analogous structure to tetraoctyl-diglycolamide (TODGA) and methylimino-dioctylacetamide (MIDOA), but with sulfur donor instead of ether oxygen or nitrogen atoms of TODGA or MIDOA. From the present work, TDGA can extract silver, palladium, gold, and mercury from acidic solutions to n-dodecane. In addition to these results, the distribution ratios of hard and soft acid metals by using TDGA, TODGA, and MIDOA are compared, where the metal-complexations with each donor atom are investigated. 1H-NMR and IR studies for the metal-TDGA complexes indicate the role on donor atoms, S and N, of TDGA.