Abstract:
The hydrophobic 1-alkyl-3-acetyl-benzo21 crown 7 bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ionic liquidC
n(benzo21C7)AImNTf
2(
n=4,6,8) abbreviated by C
n-CrownIL were synthesized. The synthesized crown ether ionic liquids were characterized by IR and NMR. The crown ether ionic liquid was mixed with 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazole bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ionic liquid (C
4MImNTf
2) to construct C
n-CrownIL/C
4MImNTf
2 complexes. It was found that the hydrophobicity of C
n-CrownIL/C
4MImNTf
2 ensured the formation of a phase separation system of aqueous solution. The results showed that C
n-CrownIL/C
4MImNTf
2 had a high extraction for Rb
+ and Cs
+, the extraction efficiency was almost 100% which was higher than other metal ions, and the order of metal ions extraction efficiency was Cs
+ > Rb
+ > K
+ > Ca
2+ > Na
+ > Mg
2+ > Li
+. Even though the concentrations of Rb
+ and Cs
+ were as low as 10 mg/L, the extraction efficiency remained above 97%. The addition ofC
4MImNTf
2 in the extractant greatly improved the extraction efficiency. The extraction rate of C
n-CrownIL/C
4MImNTf
2 was very high and the extraction equilibrium could be achieved after 10 min. By increasing of alkyl chain length, the extraction efficiency of NTf
2- crown ether for Rb
+ and Cs
+ decreased slightly, but still was maintained above 85%. The extraction efficiency of Rb
+ and Cs
+ increased with the increase of solution pH. The recycle of C
n-CrownIL/C
4MImNTf
2 can be realized by adding diluted nitric acid to reextract Rb
+ and Cs
+. Results from recycling tests showed that the extraction efficiency of Rb
+ and Cs
+ was still above 90% after five recycling tests. Theoretical calculations showed that the extraction of C
4-CrownIL/C
4MImNTf
2 for Rb
+ and Cs
+ depended on the strong complexation of the oxygen atom in the crown ether with Rb
+ and Cs
+, but the primary reason was that the cavity size of crown ether highly matched the ion-radius of Rb
+ and Cs
+.