Comparative study of IBMK and DIBK as extraction solvents in strongly acidic media: extraction behaviour and kinetic stability of Cu(PCD)(2) in these solvents

The use of di-isobutyl ketone (DIBK) and isobutyl methyl ketone (IBMK) as the solvent for extraction of copper(II) from strongly acidic media (0.01-8M hydrochloric acid) with ammonium l-pyrrolidinecarbodithioate has been studied. In contrast to IBMK, the volume of the DIBK extract remains the same, irrespective of the acidity of the aqueous phase. A certain amount of free acid is transferred into both solvents, and affects the kinetic stability of the chelate extracted; the free acid can be completely removed by washing the extract with water, and partly by filtering it through a dry filter paper. However, the chelate extracted into DIBK exhibits excellent stability without such treatment, since the amount of free acid in DIBK is much smaller than that in IBMK. When DIBK is used, the copper chelate can be quantitatively extracted as long as the extraction is done from acidic media.