Selective extraction of light lanthanides(III) with 18-crown-6 and perfluorooctanoate

The extraction of La(III), Gd(III), and Lu(III) with 18-crown-6 (18C6) has been studied using pentadecafluorooctanoate (PDFO) as a counter anion. Very high extractability of La(III) was observed in various organic solvents such as benzene, chloroform, 1,2-dichloroethane, and nitrobenzene. The predominant species extracted into benzene was found to be Ln(PDFO)₃ (18C6), and the extraction constants (K _ex,s1 =Ln(PDFO)₃ (18C6)]_org/Ln³⁺]PDFO]³18C6]_org) were 10^13.12 for La(III), 10^9.74 for Gd(III), and 10^9.67 for Lu(III). These values are 10¹⁰ times higher than those in the trichloroacetate-18C6 system reported previously. The present PDFO-18C6 system was superior to the picrate- and hexafluoroacetylacetonate-18C6 system for the separation efficiency of light lanthanides(III).