Synergistic extraction of lanthanoids(III) with thenoyltrifluoroacetone and aromatic carboxylic acids and the hydration of the extracted species

In order to study how and why the stabilities of lanthanoid(III) complexes in solutions vary across the series, the formation constants of the adducts of tris(2-thenoyltrifluoroacetonato)lanthanoids(III) with seven carboxylic acids in chloroform have been determined by solvent extraction technique at 298K. The formation constants with carboxylic acids generally decrease with increasing the atomic number, but in the middle of the series, they change only slightly. Such trends have been interpreted as related to a change of the coordination number in the middle of the series. It has been attempted to determine the number of water molecules coordinated to the adducts as well as $Eu(TTA)_3$ in chloroform by measuring the fluorescence life time of europium(III), to ensure the assignment of the coordination number.