Liquid-liquid extraction of cadmium with diethyldithiocarbamic acid

Abstract

The extraction of Cd²⁺ with zinc bls(diethyldithiocarbamate), Zn[(C₂H₅)2NCS₂]₂, from acid solutions and with HDDC from alkaline solutions Is investigated. It is shown that extraction with HDDC from 5 N NaOH and back-extraction with 2 N HCl offers a fast and selective isolation of Cd²⁺ from a variety of matrices; the only Interference found was Tl¹⁺. Applications of this separation scheme to the isolation of Cd from fission products and to the determination of Cd by neutron activation analysis in metallic zinc and in geological and biological materials are given. The recovery of Cd is quantitative and there is therefore no need to determine the chemical yield of the separation. The recovered Cd is of high radiochemical purity.