Alkali metal cations, crown ether hydration

Since the partitioning of metal ions from aqueous solutions into ionic liquids is inefficient as a result of the tendency of the metal cations to remain hydrated in the aqueous phase, additional extractants, such as crown ethers [185], calixarenes [186], dithizone [187], and others [188-214], were used. These species significantly enhance the partitioning of metal ions by forming complexes. Most of the research work has been concentrated on the extraction and separation of radioactive metals [187, 188, 191, 192, 196-213], alkali metals [185, 186, 193, 194], heavy metals [184, 192-196], and rare earth metals [197-215] and Aluminnm [216, 217]. The work reported in this field has been reviewed by Zhao et al. [190] and Chen et al. [211]. The progress made in IL extractions of metal ions (alkali, alkaline earth, heavy metals, radioactive elements, and rare earth) in recent years has been encap-snlated in Table 5.5. 

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