10.1021/ja00198a050
The research investigates the effect of crown ether lipophilicity on the facilitated transport of guanidinium thiocyanate through an immobilized liquid membrane. The study aims to understand how the water solubility and lipophilicity of crown ethers influence the transport efficiency and membrane stability. Key chemicals used include substituted benzo crown ethers and dibenzo crown ethers, guanidinium thiocyanate, and o-nitrophenyl octyl ether (NPOE) as the membrane phase solvent. The researchers found that more lipophilic crown ethers resulted in higher flux and more stable membranes. They developed a thermodynamic model to interpret the observed fluxes, accounting for partition coefficients and complexation constants. The study concludes that both the partition coefficient of the crown ether and the complexation constant significantly affect the transport rate, and the transport process is diffusion-limited with continuous complexation and decomplexation occurring during diffusion through the membrane.