Abstract: Four aromatic tetrasulfonate calixarenes have been prepared in one pot and their extraction performances toward Ca2+, Pb2+ and some transition metal ions in chloroform were evaluated. The primary results revealed that the sulfonate-bridged calixarenes showed improved extraction capabilities toward several toxic cations such as Cr3+, Cd2+ and Co2+. The extracted percentages of Cr3+ by compound 2a and Cd2+ by compound 2b are 50.15% and 46.48%, respectively.

Key words: calixarenes, macrocyclic compound, extraction, sulfonate, metal ion recognition