Extraction of trivalent lanthanoids by a fluorous phosphate extractant

Kikuchi, Kei; Ueda, Yuki   ; Sugita, Tsuyoshi   ; Naganawa, Hirochika  

Fluorous solvents, such as perfluorinated alkanes, ethers, and tertiary amines have excellent chemical properties, including low toxicity, low viscosity, nonflammability, chemical stability, and immiscibility with both water and organic solutions. However, there are few reports on metal ion extraction in fluorous biphasic systems, because hardly any extractants that have a high affinity for fluorous solvents and the introduction of fluorous groups can reduce the extraction performance. In this study, a fluorous extractant with a sufficiently long spacer between the coordinating group and fluoroalkyl chain can maintain the original coordinating ability, which is comparable with a conventional organic extractant, and have an affinity for the fluorous solvent. We investigated the extraction performance and mechanism of TFP extraction of Zr(IV) from HNO solutions into perfluorohexane and compared them with the conventional organic extraction system using TBP in n-octane.