Abstract
The synergistic solvent extraction of copper(II) from 0.33 mol dm−3 Na2SO4 aqueous solutions with capric acid (HL) in the absence and presence of tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) in chloroform at 25°C has been studied. The extracted species when capric acid was used alone is CuL2(HL)2. In the presence of TOPO, the extracted complex is CuL2(HL)2(TOPO). The TOPO–HL interaction strongly influences the synergistic extraction efficiency. The extraction constants were calculated.