Lanthanide extraction with 2,5-dimethyl-2-hydroxyhexanoic acid

Abstract

This research is concerned with the solvent extraction into chloroform of the lanthanides, using 2,5-dimethyl-2-hydroxyhexanoic acid (DMHHA). This acid is the first ..cap alpha..-hydroxy aliphatic acid to be studied as an extracting agent for the lanthanides. The chloroform-water DMHHA partition constant was determined to be 1.0 (at 0.1 M ionic strength and 25°C). The acid dimerizes in chloroform with a constant of 56. The light lanthanides can be extracted into chloroform by forming complexes with the DMHHA anions. The extracted metal species is highly aggregated. This extraction has a solubility limit which increases with the addition of unionized acid. The resultant extract is also highly aggregated. At unionized acid-to-metal ratios greater than one, extractions first occur followed by the slow precipitation of the lanthanide. At the tracer level, neodymium is extracted primarily as NdA3(HA)5 and (NdA3)2(HA)q. Very small amounts of (NdA3)2 and other metal aggregates are also present. The heavy lanthanides do not extract from solutions of DMHHA and its potassium salt, but form aqueous emulsions and precipitates. In the presence of the organic soluble tetrabutylammonium ion the heavy lanthanides can be extracted, presumably as ion pairs. The stability constants of the light lanthanides and DMHHA were determined. The separation factors obtained from DMHHA extractions of the light lanthanides were also investigated and found to be comparable to those obtained employing normal aliphatic carboxylic acid.