IASSINGd [ilres Brcln( 11, Depnrttr~ent of ilFi'iltes atld Tecl~r~zcc~l Sl~wcys, Ottawa, C(~nada Received March 4, 1066 .-iRSTRACT The partitioning of radiotracer 1"1151fC~~ between aqueous sodium osalate (3a.L) solutions and toluene solutio!ls of thenoyltritluoroaceto~le (HTTz1) has been studied as a function of the oxalate concentrat~on. The pl-I of the aqLleoLrs phase was controlled by Incans of sodiunl acetate -acetic acid ~nixtures and the ionic strength (I) by NaCl or NaCIO.,. The magnit~~des of the stepwise stability constant ratios are disc~~sscd.
INTRODUCTIONRare earth -oxalate complexing in solution has been studied extensively by Croutha~llel and Martin (1) and by Seliine (2). The absolute magnitudes of the stability constants of the complexes cannot be compared directly because of the vastly dilierent ionic strengths used in these worlis. However, the ratios of the stepwise stability coilstants are clearly a t variance (Table I). The stepwise stability constallt is defined a s where L is the ligand. Bjerrunl (3) has sho\\.n that for siinple conlplexes where S is a statistical factor and T is a llleasure of the work done in bringing a charged ligand from infinity to its equilibrium position in the 1:2 complex against the repulsive force exerted by already bound ligands. For singly charged ligands that bind to rare earth or transition metal ions it has been shown that T = 1.6 (4, 5). If the cation has Navailable sites and if, for example, the ligand is monodentate,The factor of 2 arises because the probability of a ligand's leaving the 1:2 complex is twice that of a ligand's leaving the 1 : l . The R factor, termed the rest effect, covers those contributions to P that are neitller statistical nor electrostatic. R w-ill be an inlportant entity in stepwise reactions where, for example, the cation coordinatioll number changed.Steric hindrance and metal-ligand covalency are other obvious contributors to R. The nlagnitudes of the ratios of the stepwise stability constants are discussed later in this paper. The solvent extraction -radiotracer technique has proved useful in the study of rare earth ion association reactions in solution (6). The method is particularly applicable in the