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June 4th (UPI) – Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have come up with a faster way of purifying the elements. This breakthrough could help researchers uncover new elements, reprocess nuclear fuel more efficiently, and isolate actinium-225, a promising isotope for cancer treatment.
The chemists involved described their new process this week in Nature Communications.
"Our proposed process seems to be much more efficient than existing processes, involves fewer steps and can be implemented in aqueous environments, and therefore does not require corrosive chemicals," said Rebecca Abergel, head of Berkeley Lab heavy elements chemistry group press release. "I think it's really important and it will be useful for many applications."
Abergel and his colleagues at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are particularly interested in the isolation of heavy elements, elements of the bottom of the periodic table that can be used for medical treatments, space exploration and development. production of nuclear energy.
The separation factor of an element describes the ease with which it can be separated from the mixture.
"The higher the separation factor, the fewer contaminants," said Abergel. "Usually, when you purify an element, you cycle through it several times to reduce contaminants."
The less an item needs to be purified, the more the process of isolation is quick and cost effective. For the new separation technique researchers, Abergel and colleagues experimented with actinium-225, an isotope that kills cancer cells but leaves healthy cells unaffected by targeted therapies.
LBNL researchers have developed improved production processes for actinium-225.
"With any production process, you have to purify the final isotope," said Abergel. "Our method could be used right after production, before distribution."
In laboratory tests, scientists used synthetic ligands, small molecules that bind metal atoms. Specific ligands can be used to target positive metal ions, which removes contaminants from the element.
Scientists hope to use their new method to isolate different types of therapeutic isotopes.
"Based on what we have seen, this new method can really be generalized, as long as we have different loads on the metals we want to separate," said Abergel. "Having a good purification process available could simplify everything in terms of post-production processing and availability."
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