Investigation of Picolinic Acid Extraction by Trioctylamine

Abstract

Picolinic acid is a pyridine compound with a carboxyl side chain at the 2-position. It is an isomer of nicotinic acid, which has the carboxyl side chain at the 3-position. Picolinic acid acts as a chelating agent of elements such as chromium, zinc, manganese, copper, iron, and molybdenum in the human body. It is involved in phenylalanine, tryptophan, and alkaloid production, and for the quantitative detection of calcium. In this study, picolinic acid's aqueous solution was extracted by a method reactive extraction. All experiments were reported on the extraction of picolinic acid by trioctylamine (TOA) dissolved in two different aliphatic hydrocarbons (n-octane and n-decane), two different alcohols (octan-1-ol and decan-1-ol), and two different ketones (diisobutyl ketone (DIBK) and octan-2-one), as well as single diluents. Experimental results of batch extraction experiments were calculated and reported as distribution coefficients (K(D)=C(PA)*/C(PA)), loading factors (Z), and extraction efficiency (E). The highest synergistic extraction efficiency was found as 89.199 for TOA+ isoamyl alcohol extractant system with K(D) value of 8.259 and Z value of 0.530.