Patent ID: 8500846

Claim:
A method for consecutive extractive separation of plural species of rare metals with a rare metal extractant containing a cyclic phenol sulfide derivative of the formula (1) from an aqueous solution containing plural species of rare metals, comprising the step of: extracting rare metal(s) more than once by changing pH of the aqueous solution once or more depending on desired rare metal(s), to selectively dominantly extract particular rare metal(s) in each extraction process, wherein the particular rare metal(s) is/are at least one selected from the group consisting of zirconium, palladium, and platinum: wherein in the formula (1), R 1 is a hydrogen atom or a C 1 -C 10 hydrocarbon; R 2 is a C 0 -C 10 hydrocarbon; R 3 and R 4 are independently a linear or branched C 1 -C 5 alkyl group; and Z is one selected from the group consisting of a sulfide group, a sulfinyl group, and a sulfonyl group.