Solvent extraction of palladium(II) using diamides: A performing molecular system established through a detailed study of extraction kinetics

Palladium isolation and refining through solvent extraction suffer from limited stability of commercial reagents or limited availability of robust reagents in nitrate media. Several performing extraction solvents based on diamide reagents have been proposed, but their preparation requires synthetic chemistry skills. In the present work, we propose the use of readily accessible N, N, N', N'-tetrahexyl-malonamide (THMA). This reagent revealed superior distribution ratios and selectivity in comparison with previously used diamides for palladium(II) extraction from nitrate media in the frame of palladium recovery from waste. Furthermore, the benefit of excess di-hexylamine (DHA) employed during the preparation of THMA was demonstrated through a gain in kinetics performance. Detailed analysis enabled to determine the best performing formulation of extraction solvent, which can be readily prepared from commercially available chemicals without any complex synthesis procedure nor purification step. (authors)