Studies on the liquid-liquid extraction of iron(III) and titanium(IV) with 3-phenyl-4-benzoyl-5-isoxazolone

The extraction behaviour of iron(III) and titanium(IV) from acidic chloride solutions has been investigated using 3-phenyl-4-benzoyl-5-isoxazolone (HPBI) in xylene as an extractant. The results demonstrate that these metal ions are extracted into xylene as Fe(PBI)3 and TiO(PBI)2. The equilibrium constants of the extracted complexes have been deduced by non-linear regression analysis by taking into account complexation of metal ion with inorganic ligands in the aqueous phase and all plausible complexes extracted into the organic phase. IR and proton NMR (1H NMR) spectra were used to further clarify the nature of complexes extracted into organic phase. The effect of the nature of the diluent on the extraction of iron(III) and titanium(IV) has been studied and correlated with dielectric constants. The extraction behaviour of titanium(IV) has also been compared with that of other metal ions, viz. magnesium(II), vanadium(V), chromium(VI), iron(III), manganese(II), zinc(II) and zirconium(IV), which are associated with the titanium in waste chloride liquors of the titanium-mineral-processing industry.