Solvent Extraction of Some Metal Ions with Lipophilic Chitin and Chitosan

O,O′‐decanoyl chitosan and O,O′‐decanoyl N,N‐didecanoyl chitosan, the lipophilic chitosans, as well as O,O′‐decanoyl chitin, the lipophilic chitin, were prepared from chitosan and chitin, respectively. All of these were soluble in chloroform, and the lipophilic chitosans were also soluble in toluene while O,O′‐decanoyl N,N‐didecanoyl chitosan was soluble also in hexane and kerosene. Solvent extraction of some selected metals, Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Zn(II), Fe(III) and Pb(II), were tested using these lipophilic polysaccharides in chloroform. For extraction with O,O′‐decanoyl N,N‐didecanoyl chitosan, tests were also carried out using kerosene as the diluent. With O,O′‐decanoyl chitin, none of the metals tested were appreciably extracted. With O,O′‐decanoyl chitosan, copper(II) was highly selectively extracted over the other metals, while iron(III) was not appreciably extracted. On the other hand, iron(III) and copper(II) were selectively extracted over the other metals with O,O′‐decanoyl N,N‐didec...