Synergistic lanthanide extraction triggered by self-assembly of heterodinuclear Zn(II)/Ln(III) Schiff base/carboxylic acid complexes

The studies reported here focus on the extraction of La(III), Eu(III), and Yb(III) by chelating hexadentate 3-alkoxy-2-hydroxyphenyl substituted diimine ligands using system Ln(NO3)3–Zn(NO3)2–NaNO3–buffer–H2O/diimine-n-caprylic acid–CHCl3. Significant synergistic enhancement has been observed for Ln(III) from nitrate media in presence Zn(II) n-caprylic acid. These effects can be interpreted self-assembly heterodinuclear Zn(II)/Ln(III) complexes with both deprotonated extractants organic phase taking into account solution solid-state structural studies. structures identified behavior as well different factors influencing process will discussed detail. goals these experiments are to find preferred structure-extractability relationships systems investigated.