Selective extraction of strontium with supercritical fluid carbon dioxide

Strontium (Sr(2+)) can be selectively extracted from aqueous solutions into supercritical fluid CO(2) at 60 °C and 100 atm with dicyclohexano-18-crown-6 (DC18C6) using CF(3)(CF(2))(6)CO(2) (-) (PFOA(-)) or CF(3)(CF(2))(6)CF(2)SO(3) (-) (PFOSA(-)) as a counter anion; at a mole ratio of Sr(2+) : DC18C6 : PFOA(-) = 1:10:50, the extraction of Sr (5.6 × 10(-5) M) from water at pH 3 is near quantitative whereas Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) at equal concentration are only extracted to a level of 7 and 1%, respectively; PFOSA(-) is an effective counter anion for selective extraction of Sr(2+) from 1.3 M HNO(3) with DC18C6 in supercritical CO(2).