The extraction of cobalt(II) from lithium chloride solutions by aliquat 336R dissolved in chloroform

Abstract

The extraction of cobalt(II) by Aliquat 336R from 7 M lithium chloride solutions involves two species from the aqueous phase, COCl42 and CoCl3-, with the former being the predominant one. The equilibrium constants for the formation of the extracted complexes (R3MeN+)2 CoCl42- and R3MeN+CoCI3- are: logKll 5.01 and logK12 9.55. From the results of experiments by means of the single-drop technique, a mechanism is proposed based on the formation of interfacial complexes by fast ion-exchange with a rate-determining step which involves the replacement at the interface of the complex (R3MeN+)2 COCl42- by two molar proportions of reagent from the bulk organic phase.