Liquid–liquid extraction

Liquid–liquid extraction is a method to separate compounds based on their relative solubilities in two different immiscible liquids, often water and an appropriate organic solvent. During extraction process, there is a net transfer of one or more components between the two liquid phases. This partitioning of compounds allows for purification of reaction mixtures or transfer of desirable products to an organic phase that is more easily evaporated than water.

Liquid–liquid extraction is a technique used in both chemical laboratories and in industrial separations. Separatory funnels are commonly used for small-scale separations in research or teaching labs.

Liquid-liquid extraction is commonly used for organic compounds in the scent/flavor industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and other chemical industries. Metal ions can also be separated using appropriate chelating agents to favor extraction of certain ions into aqueous vs. organic phases like the PUREX process used to separate uranium from plutonium.

Liquid-Liquid extraction can be substantially accelerated in microfluidic devices, reducing extraction and separation times from minutes/hours to mere seconds compared to conventional extractors.

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