• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.3855-3860
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• 2011

The competitive solvent extractions of alkali and alkaline earth metals by di-ionizable calix[4]arene nano-baskets were studied using nine conformers of calix[4]arene nano-baskets. The objective of this work is to assess the variation of macrocycle conformation, orientation and position of pendant moieties upon the extraction parameters (efficiency, selectivity and $pH_{1/2}$) of the complexes. The results revealed that alternation of ring conformation in calixarene scaffold affects the solvent extraction parameters towards alkali and alkaline earth metals, while changing the orientation of pendant moieties from ortho- to para- as well as cis- to trans-analogues depicted no changes in those extraction parameters.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.1509-1516
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• 2012

Nano-assisted inclusion separation of alkali metals from basic solutions was reported by inclusion-facilitated emulsion liquid membrane process. The novelty of this study is application of nano-baskets of calixarene in the selective and efficient separation of alkali metals as both the carrier and the surfactant. For this aim, four derivatives of $p-tert-calix$[4]arene bearing different sulfonamide moieties were synthesized and their inclusion-extraction parameters were optimized including the calixarene scaffold $\mathbf{3}$ (4 wt %) as the carrier/demulsifier, the commercial kerosene as diluent in membrane, sulphonic acid (0.2 M) and ammonium carbonate (0.4 M) as the strip and the feed phases, the phase and the treat ratios of 0.8 and 0.3, mixing speed (300 rpm), and initial solute concentration (100 mg/L). The selectivity of membrane over more than ten interfering cations was examined and the results reveled that under the optimized operating condition, the degree of inclusion-extraction of alkali metals was as high as 98-99%.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.3979-3990
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• 2011

Eight ionizable nano-baskets of cone 25,26-di(carboxymethoxy)calix[4]arene-crown-3,4,5,6 were synthesized and were verified by $^1H$ and $^{13}C$ NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The competitive solvent extractions of alkali and alkaline earth metal cations were studied using such nano-baskets. The novelty of this study is including three binding units of calixarene's bowl, crown ether's ring and electron-donor ionizable moieties in a unique scaffold to assess the binding tendency towards the cations. The objective of this work is to study the extraction efficiency, selectivity and $pH_{1/2}$ of such complexes. The result of solvent extraction experiments indicated that these compounds were effective extractants of alkali and alkaline earth metal cations. Their selectivities were greatly influenced by the acidity of solution and the conformations of the calixcrown. One conformer was selective to $Na^+$ in pH ${\geq}$ 4, while the other was highly selective to $Ba^{2+}$ in pH 6 and upper.