Pu-trapping molecule's structure mapped

摘要

The Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory has been used for X-ray diffraction of a substance that may be effective in removing plutonium from living tissue, and even from bones. Chelating agents, which are generally large organic molecules with an affinity for bonding with metal atoms, have been studied for many years for their potential to remove such atoms from living tissue. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) recently announced an advancement in understanding the structure—and in turn the metal-bonding behavior—of ether-bridged hydroxypyridonate ligands (HOPO), through X-ray diffraction carried out by the Advanced Light Source (ALS). HOPO complexes have been found to chelate ac-tinides such as plutonium very well, raising the prospect that these agents could be used after contamination incidents to extract plutonium from internal tissue, and even bones.