INTERMOLECULAR INTERACTION AND PARTITION CONSTANTS OF METAL TRIS-ACETYLACETONATES - A SHORT THEORETICAL REVIEW

Predicting the effectiveness of liquid-liquid extraction of metal chel ates and choosing optimal extraction reagents requires several charact eristics of the components of the extraction system to be taken into c onsideration. This paper provides an analysis of the factors that affe ct the value of the partition constant of a chelate and the possibilit ies to predict the value of the partition constant from the nature of the metal ion, the structure of the chelating reagent, and the charact eristics of the organic solvent. The class of metal tris-acetylacetona tes is used as an example. Theories that are helpful in predicting par tition constants are discussed.