Herein, a novel C=O–NOH-contained compound was synthesized and used in the extraction recovery of copper from sulfate solution. Dodecyl phenyl ethyl hydroxamic acid (DPEHA) exhibited high selectivity to Cu(II) over competing ions, separation factors (β) obtained were βCu/Zn = 227.370, βCu/Co 199.094, βCu/Ni 188.889, respectively. The effect stronger than that 2-hydroxy-5-nonyl acetophenone oxim...