Solvent extraction of lanthanoid/III/ with 18-crown-6 from aqueous trichloroacetate solutions to 1,2-dichloroethane

Extraction behaviour of lanthanoid/III/ has been investigated by using 18-crown-6/CR/ as a neutral microcyclic ligand, trichloroacetate/TCA^–/ as an anionic counter ion, and 1,2-dichloroethane as an organic solvent. From the equilibrium studies, the extractable complex such as LnCR³⁺ was found for La/III/, Ce/III/, Pr/III/, Nd/III/, Sm/III/, and Eu/III/ and also the formation of Ln/CR/ ₂ ³⁺ complexes was suggested for Tb/III/, Tm/III/, and Lu/III/. The extractability of lanthanoid/III/ steeply decreased with increase in the atomic number. This order of extractability was a reverse trend compared with that in many other extraction systems reported so far. Very high separation factors especially among light lanthanoid/III/ were observed.