Liquid-liquid distribution of ion-associates of dichlorocuprate(I) with quaternary ammonium counter-ions

The dichlorocuprate(I) anion CuCl(-)(2) can be extracted as its ion-associates Q(+).CuCl(-)(2) with quaternary ammonium cations (Q(+)) into chloroform. The extraction constants K(ex) have been determined, and the log K(ex) values found for the various counter-ions used are 1.93 for (C(3)H(7))(4)N(+), 4.10 for (C(4)H(9))(4)N(+), 6.57 for (C(5)H(11))(4)N(+), 1.57 for C(8)H(17)N(+) (CH(3))(3), 2.83 for C(10)H(21)N(+) (CH(3))(3) 4.12 for C(12)H(25)N(+) (CH(3))(3) and 5.21 for C(14)H(29)N(+)(CH(3))(3), respectively. A linear relationship was found between log K(ex) and the total number of carbon atoms in Q(+); from the slope of the line, the contribution of a methylene group to log K(ex) was calculated to be 0.59. The extractability with alkyltrimethylammonium cations was larger than that with symmetrical tetra-alkylammonium cations and the difference in log K(ex) for two cations (one of each type) with the same number of carbon atoms was about 0.4. From the extraction constants obtained, the extractability of CuCl(-)(2) was found to lie between that of ReO(-)(4) and ClO(-)(4).