The air/water interface as a model system for solvent extraction monolayer studies

The interactions of air/water and oil/water extractant monolayers with the aqueous phase are compared by means of a theoretical analysis of the free energy of desorption. It is shown that in cases where the cohesive forces within the monolayer are small compared with the other free energy contributions, the respective extractant properties such as aqueous phase solubility and desorption kinetics should be comparable for the a/w and o/w systems. Under these circumstances air/water monolayers can serve as useful model systems for investigating solvent extraction interfacial processes.