Selective liquid-liquid extraction of antimony(III) from hydrochloric acid media by N-n-octylaniline in xylene

N-n-Octylaniline in xylene was used for the extraction separation of anti- mony(III) from hydrochloric acid media. Antimony(III) was extracted quantitatively with 10 mL 4 % N-n-octylaniline in xylene. It was stripped from the organic phase with 0.5 M ammonia and estimated photometrically by the iodide method. The effect of metal ion, acid, reagent concentration and various foreign ions was investigated. The method affords binary and ternary separation of antimony(III) from tellurium(IV), sele- nium(IV), lead(II), bismuth(III), tin(IV), germanium(IV), copper(II), gold(III), iron(III) and zinc(II). The method is applicable for the analysis of synthetic mixtures, alloys and semiconductor thin films. It is fast, accurate and precise.