Supramolecular chemistry of liquid-liquid extraction

Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE) is a venerable and widely used method for the separation of a targeted solute between two immiscible liquids. In recent years, this method has gained popularity in the supramolecular chemistry community due to the development of various types of synthetic receptors that effectively and selectively bind specific guests in an aqueous medium through different supramolecular interactions. This has eventually led to the development of state-of-the-art extraction technologies for the removal and purification of anions, cations, ion pairs, and small molecules from one liquid phase to another liquid phase, which is an industrially viable method. The focus of this perspective is to furnish a vivid picture of the current understanding of supramolecular interaction-based LLE chemistry. This will not only help to improve separation technology in the chemical, mining, nuclear waste treatment, and medicinal chemistry sectors but is also useful to address the purity issue of the extractable species, which is otherwise difficult. Thus, up-to-date knowledge on this subject will eventually provide opportunities to develop large-scale waste remediation processes and metallurgy applications that can address important real-life problems.

Synthesis of new anthracene-substituted calix[4]triazacrown-5 as highly sensitive fluorescent chemosensor and extractant against hazardous dichromate anion

A new fluorogenic anthracene functionalized calix[4]triazacrown-5 (Ant-AzClx) was successfully synthesized using a simple Schiff's base reaction. The ¹ H-NMR, ¹³ C-NMR, ESI-MS, and elemental analysis techniques were performed to characterize its structure. Excited at 370 nm, Ant-AzClx reveals excimer emission at 418 nm. Therefore, its anion binding properties were investigated against F^- , HCO₃ ^- , H₂ PO₄ ^- , NO₃ ^- , Cr₂ O₇ ^2- , and SO₄ ^2- ions. When hazardous dichromate anion was introduced into medium, the fluorescence intensity of Ant-AzClx was markedly quenched. The binding constant, stoichiometry, the detection limits and Stern-Volmer equation for the complex formed between Ant-AzClx and Cr₂ O₇ ^2- ion were determined. Furthermore, the ¹ H-NMR technique was also performed to assess the mechanism of the complex (Ant-AzClx@Cr₂ O₇ ^2- ). Apart from its excellent fluorescent chemosensor properties for selective and sensitive recognition of Cr₂ O₇ ^2- ion, Ant-AzClx was used as an efficient extractant towards dichromate anion. The extraction results indicated that Ant-AzClx exhibited high extraction capability, leading to it being a promising extractant for the removal of dichromate anions from water.