The precious metals such as silver, gold, palladium and platinum are important metals in industries such as catalyst, battery and electronics. These metals have stimulated the investigation of separation and purification by solvent extraction techniques because very high purity of these metals is required in these industries. [1][2][3][4] Solvent extraction of metal ions with chelate agents such as LIX series reagents has recently attracted interest through hydrometallurgical and waste-water treatment processes. [5][6][7][8][9] An extractant containing sulfur as a donor atom has a high selectivity for platinum metals. Few works on the extraction reactions with such an extractant have been carried out. 10,11 Baba and Inoue 12,13 studied the mechanism of palladium extraction with dihexyl sulfide, concluding that the ratedetermining step was the reaction between the intermediate of trichloropalladium-extractant complex adsorbed at the interface and the extractant dissolved in the aqueous phase. In the case of 1,2-bis(tert-hexylthio)ethane, the rate-determining step was the reaction of the extractant dissolved in the aqueous phase with PdCl3 -and PdCl4 2-in the aqueous phase, because 1,2-bis(terthexylthio)ethane had no interfacial activity and its aqueous solubility was relatively high.A previous paper 14 reported that t-hexadecylthiomethylpyridine (DTMP) including nitrogen and sulfur atoms has a high affinity for palladium, platinum and silver from an ammonium nitrate solution. In this study, the extraction rate of palladium with 2-dodecylthiomethylpyridine (DTP) from hydrochloric acid was examined using a stirred transfer cell. Measurements of palladium-loading capacity and aqueous solubility of extractant were also examined in order to elucidate the extraction mechanism.
ExperimentalReagents 2-Dodecylthiomethylpyridine (DTP) was synthesized from ndodecylthiol and 2-chloromethylpyridine according to a conventional method. 14 The reaction mixture was evaporated. Water and chloroform were added to the reaction mixture and then the two phases were separated with a separatory funnel. Chloroform phase was successively washed using 0.1 mol dm -3 hydrochloric acid mixed with sodium chloride as a salting out reagent, 1.0 mol dm -3 aqueous sodium hydroxide and distilled water. The final product was a viscous brownish liquid. Identification of the purified product was carried out using 1 H-NMR, 13 C-NMR and FT-IR spectra. The product was identified as DTP and its purity was 97% as measured by gas chromatography.
Selectivity of DTP for metal ionsThe aqueous phase was prepared by dissolving metal chloride into hydrochloric acid. The organic phase was prepared by dissolving with chloroform gravimetrically. Selectivity of metal ions was measured by a batchwise-method at 303 K for 24 h. 2-Dodecylthiomethylpyridine (DTP) was newly synthesized to study its extraction properties for precious metals. DTP was a selective extractant for palladium(II) and gold(III) over base metals. The loading test for palladium(II) showed that one pa...