Liquid-liquid extraction of lead(H) from succinate media was carried out with 2-octylaminopyricline (2-OAP) in chloroform. Lead(II) was quantitatively extracted with 0.036M 2-OAP in chloroform from 0.005-0.007 M sodium succinate when equilibrated for 5 min. Lead(II) from the organic phase was stripped with three 10 mL portions of 0.4 M acetic acid and determined titrimetrically with EDTA. The nature of extracted species was determined from the log-log plot. The optimum conditions have been evaluated based on a critical study of weak acid concentration, extractant concentration, period of equilibration and effect of diluents. The metal loading capacity of the reagent was found to be 8 mg of lead(H) with 10 mL 0.036 M of the extractant. The extraction of the lead(II) was carried out in presence of various ions to ascertain the tolerance limit of individual. Temperature dependence of the extraction equilibrium constants was examined to estimate the apparent thermodynamic functions (Delta H, Delta S and Delta G) for extraction reaction. Lead(II) was successfully separated from commonly associated metal ions such as Bi(III), Hg(II), Cr(VI), Cd(II), Zn(II),Al(III), Ca(II), Ba(II) and from binary and ternary mixtures. The method was extended for determination of lead(II) in real samples. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.