STUDIES ON EXTRACTION AND COORDINATION OF RARE EARTHS WITH β-KETOPHOSPHONATES

The rare earth extraction and coordination by three β-ke-tophosphonates with various structure, dibutyl 2-keto-2-phenyl-ethylphosphonate, (C4H9O)2P(O)CH2C(O)C6H5, (I), dibutyl 2-keto-pentylphosphonate, (C4H9O)2P(O)CH2C(O)C3H7, (II) and dibutyl 2-keto-3-methylbutylphosphonate, (C4H9O)2P(O)CH2C(O)CH(CH3)CH3, (III) from nitric acid medium have been described in this paper. The regularity of rare earth extraction with these β-ketophos-phonate reveals the same manner and resembles that of the common extractant, tributylphosphate (TBP). The extracted species has been deduced as Nd(NO3)3.3L and HNO3-L by the slope method. By investigating the shift of P=0 and C=0 in IR spectra of the coordination compound prepared by saturated method, the predomination of P=0 has been established which coincides with the estimation from their extraction behavior.