Highly Efficient Extraction of Rhodium(III) from Hydrochloric Acid Solution with Amide-Containing Tertiary Amine Compounds

Abstract

Extraction of Rh(III) from a HCl solution with N,N-disubstituted amide–containing tertiary amine (ACTA) compounds (N,N-di-n-hexyl(N-methyl-N-n-octyl-ethylamide)amine (MonoAA), N-n-hexyl-bis(N-methyl-N-n-octyl-ethylamide)amine (BisAA), and tris(N-methyl-N-n-octyl-ethylamide)amine (TrisAA)) was investigated. The ACTAs extract Rh(III) more efficiently than tri-n-octylamine (TOA), and the extraction efficiency increases with increasing number of amide groups: TrisAA > BisAA > MonoAA ≫ TOA. For all ACTAs, the predominant Rh(III) complex extracted from 2 M HCl is probably {[RhCl₅(H₂O)]·(ACTA·H)₂}. The apparent basicity of the ACTAs and TOA varies in the opposite order from that observed for the Rh(III) extraction efficiency. Rh(III) can be readily back-extracted using 10 M HCl solution possessing a high selectivity over similarly loaded Pd(II) and Pt(IV).

Keywords:

• rhodium
• HCl
• N,N-disubstituted amide
• tertiary amine
• palladium
• platinum
• solvent extraction