Solvent extraction complexing agents

The nature of the donor atoms in the chelating agent. Ligands which contain donor atoms of the soft-base type form their most stable complexes with the relatively small group of Class B metal ions (i.e. soft acids) and are thus more selective reagents. This is illustrated by the reagent diphenylthiocarbazone (dithizone) used for the solvent extraction of metal ions such as Pd2+, Ag+, Hg2+, Cu2+, Bi3+, Pb2+, and Zn2 +. ... 

The solvent extraction of a neutral metal chelate complex formed from a chelating agent HR according to the equation... 

Solvent acts as a selective extractant, retaining the sample because of its higher affinity for the solvent compared to the gas. Solutions of chemical or physical complexing agents nay be used to improve the extraction efficiency. 

Certain surface-active compounds [499], when dissolved in water under conditions of saturation, form self-associated aggregates [39,486-488] or micelles [39,485], which can interfere with the determination of the true aqueous solubility and the pKa of the compound. When the compounds are very sparingly soluble in water, additives can be used to enhance the rate of dissolution [494,495], One can consider DMSO used in this sense. However, the presence of these solvents can in some cases interfere with the determination of the true aqueous solubility. If measurements are done in the presence of simple surfactants [500], bile salts [501], complexing agents such as cyclodextrins [489 191,493], or ion-pair-forming counterions [492], extensive considerations need to be applied in attempting to extract the true aqueous solubility from the data. Such corrective measures are described below. 

A variety of preconcentration procedures has been used, including solvent extraction of metal chelates, coprecipitation, chelating ion exchange, adsorption onto other solids such as silica-bonded organic complexing agents, and liquid-liquid extraction. 

In addition to the applications in extractive distillation referred to above, there are other industrial examples where electrolytes in mixed solvents occur. In many industrial situations nonvolatile electrolytes are either added to effect the separation of multicomponent process streams (e.g., the complexing agents added to enhance distribution coefficients in solvent extraction) or are present as a result of the process itself. Ex-... 

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