Homogeneous Liquid-Liquid Extraction of Metal Ions with a Functionalized Ionic Liquid

Binary mixtures of the ionic liquid betainium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide and water show an upper critical solution temperature. This solvent system has been used to extract metal ions by phase-transition extraction, using zwitterionic betaine as extractant. The system is efficient for the extraction of trivalent rare-earth, indium and gallium ions. This new type of metal extraction system avoids problems associated with the use of viscous ionic liquids, namely, the difficulty of intense mixing of the aqueous and ionic liquid phases by stirring.