In liquid-liquid extraction, the phase containing the dissolved solute in the extracting solvent is called the extract phase.

• A. Extract phase
• B. Raffinate phase
• C. Organic phase
• D. Intermediate phase

Answer: (A)

In liquid-liquid extraction, two immiscible liquids are brought into contact and the solute partitions between them. The phase that ends up containing the solute dissolved in the extracting solvent is called the extract phase. This name emphasizes the role of that phase as the carrier of the solute after extraction, since the solvent in that phase has taken up the solute from the other phase.

The other phase, from which the solute has been removed, is known as the raffinate. It’s the phase that remains after contact and typically contains little of the solute. While the organic phase can be the extract phase when the solute prefers the organic solvent, “organic phase” simply describes the solvent itself, not the function in the extraction. The intermediate phase isn’t a standard term for a simple two-phase LLE. In short, the phase containing the dissolved solute in the extracting solvent is the extract phase.