Molecular modeling of alkyl hydroxamates as a highly selective flotation collectors for oxidized copper mineral

Quantum chemical calculations have been employed to understand the nature of interaction between alkyl hydroxamates and oxidized copper ore. The Material Studio 6.0 program (Accelrys, USA) has been used to model the surface-reagent interaction. As presented in the following sections, trends predicted on the basis of theoretically computed interaction energies correlate quite well with our own experimental microflotation results as well as with those available in the published literature.