Studii şi Cercetări Ştiinţifice Chimie şi Inginerie Chimică, Biotehnologii, Industrie Alimentară Scientific Study & Research Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Food Industry 2011, 12 (3), pp. 269 – 280 ISSN 1582-540X © 2011 ALMA MATER Publishing House, “VASILE ALECSANDRI” University of Bacău. All rights reserved. 269 ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER POLY(AMINOMETHYLENEPHOSPHONIC) ACID FOR SOLVENT EXTRACTION OF METAL IONS M’hamed Kaid 1 , Mohamed Amine Didi 1 *, Didier Villemin 2 1 Tlemcen University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Laboratory of Separation & Purification Technology Box 119, Algeria 2 Université de Caen, Laboratoire de Chimie Moléculaire et Thioorganique, UMR CNRS 6507, INC3M, FR 3038, ENSICAEN & Centre de Recherche, 14050 Caen, France *Corresponding author: madidi13@yahoo.fr Received: January 17, 2011 Accepted: April 18, 2011 Abstract: Diaminododecyltetramethylenetetraphosphonic acid (DADTMTPA) has been investigated in liquid - liquid extraction of Zn (II) and Cu (II) in acetate media. The extraction of both cations was carried out in different media with the addition of CH 3 COONa, CH 3 COOH, HCl and H 2 SO 4 at different pH values. The maximum extraction yield for copper is 70% after addition of 10 mg of sodium acetate and for zinc is 30% after addition of acetic acid at pH i = 5.5, in one step. Keywords: copper (II), DADTMTPA, solvent extraction, zinc (II), diaminododecyltetramethylenetetraphosphonic acid