Synthesis of Mono-esters of Phenyl-and Substituted Phenylphosphonic Acids and Their Performance in Rare Earth Extraction

Methodsfor the synthesis of acidic phenyl-and substituted phenylphosphonates bearing a branched longchain ester alkyl group are described.These synthetic routes are incomparably superior to other methods in vari-ous aspects including better reaction yield and higher purity of the product.The behaviour of themono(2-butyloctyl)esters and mono(2-methyldodecyl)esters of both phenyl-and o-methylphenylphosphonicacids thus obtained in extraction of lanthanum,praseodymium,neodymium and lutecium as representatives oflight and heavy rare earths,is investigated and discussed on the basis of their chemical structure.The dependenceof the extraction constants and separation factors accords with the Reactivity-Selectivity Principle in solvent ex-traction proposed by us.The composition and structure of the extracted species have been characterized byinfra-red and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in addition to elemental analyses.