General method for the liquid-liquid extraction of molybdenum and its application to neutron activation analysis

Summary The liquid-liquid extraction of Mo(VI) from different acid solutions by zinc diethyldithiocarbamate in chloroform is described. This extractant allows the separation of nanogram to milligram quantities of Mo from even gram quantities of many other elements. The separation of Mo can be made selective by appropriate choice of the composition of the aqueous phase, by back-extraction of Mo and/or the coextracted elements, and by masking Mo with hydrogen peroxide. These techniques were adapted for the determination of Mo in several reference materials by radiochemical neutron activation analysis via ⁹⁹Mo.