Liquid-liquid extraction of mercury(II) from aqueous solution using furosemide in benzyl alcohol

A simple, efficient and economical liquid-liquid extraction method has been developed for quantitative extraction of mercury(II) from aqueous buffer solution using furosemide in benzyl alcohol. The effect of various parameters and of various anions and cations on the extraction of mercury(II) was investigated. The separation factor of mercury was quite high in the presence of a number of transition and rare earth metals at pH 3.5. Among strippants, sodium thiosulphate was found most suitable, and the recovery of mercury was noted to be 98%. The stoichiometric composition of the extracted species was found to be [Hg(FS)(2)].