Analytical separation of antimony(III) from bismuth(III), lead(II), gallium(III), thallium(III), tellurium(IV) and tin(IV) with cyanex 302

Abstract

A method is proposed for the separation of antimony(III) (100–400 μg) from bismuth(III), lead(II), gallium(III), thallium(III), tellurium(IV) and tin(IV) from an aqueous solution of pH 0.5–1.5 using 8×10−3−1×10−2 mol dm−3 cyanex 302 dissolved in toluene as an extractant. The antimony is stripped from the cyanex phase with water and determined spectrophotometrically with iodide. Various experimental parameters are optimized and the probable 1∶3 stoichiometry of the extracted species is evaluated. The method is applicable to the analysis of alloys and pharmaceutical samples. The separation and determination take only 20 min.