[FTIR investigation of organic phase containing rare earth ion in naphthenic acid-phosphonate ester-heptane system].

Naphthenic acid (NA) was mixed with PC88A in heptane, and 10 moL x L(-1) KOH aqueous solution was used to saponify the solution subsequently. The transparent and clear appearance of the obtained solution indicated the formation of w/o micell and microemusion. In the present study, micell with high saponification percentage (80%) was used to extract neodymium. The organic phase structure was characterized using FTIR spectroscopy in the extraction process. IR spectra indicate that the characteristic peaks of nu(COOH), nu(s)(COO-) and nu(P=O) shift to lower wavenumbers as the loading of Nd in organic phase increases. The results demonstrated that Nd(III) are coordinated to P=O and COO- groups simultaneously, and the supramolecules with self-assembly structure was formed containing PC88A and NA, which were binding with Nd(III) in the extracted organic phase.