Comparative studies on the solvent extraction of transition metal cations by calixarene, phenol and ester derivatives

The ionophore solvent extraction of various alkali metal and transition metal cations from the aqueous phase to the organic phase was carried out by using diazo-coupling calix[ n]arenes [ p-(4-phenylazophenylazo)calix[4]arene ( L1) and p-phenylazocalix[6]arene ( L2)], phenol derivatives [2,6-dimethyl-3-phenylazophenol ( L3), 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-diethylamino phenol ( L4), 2-chloro-4-nitro(phenylazo)-5- sec-butyl-2-phenol ( L5) and 2-chloro-4-nitro(phenylazo)-5- tert-butyl-2-phenol ( L6)], and ester derivatives [quinoline-8-benzoate ( L7), phenyl-1,4-dibenzoate ( L8), p-tolyltiobenzoate ( L9)]. It was found that, all the compounds ( L1– L9) examined showed selectivity for transition metal cations such as Ag +, Hg + Hg 2+, and poor efficiency for alkali metal cations (Na + and K +). The best extraction efficiency was obtained with L1 and L4.