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Characterization of Technetium Species Induced in Spinach

Interfaculty Reactor Institute, Delft Univ. of Technology, Mekelweg 15, 2629 JB Delft, the Netherlands.

^* Corresponding author (elteren{at}iri.tudelft.nl).

ABSTRACT

Plants have the ability to accumulate the long-lived fission product ⁹⁹Tc. In this work, an attempt was made to separate and characterize technetium species induced by spinach plants (Spinacia oleracea L.) grown on a TcO^–₄ containing nutrient solution. Combination of data obtained with selective extraction (ammonium sulfate, acetone, diethyl ether, and 8-hydroxyquinoline in chloroform) and chromatography (size-exclusion chromatography and reversed-phase ion-pair chromatography) gave us insight into Tc speciation in spinach plants. The following classes of Tc species in spinach leaf homogenate were found after an incubation period of 11 d: TcO^–₄ (ca. 7%), Tc^V-cysteine (ca. 25%), Tc bound to insoluble cell-wall polysaccharides (ca. 17%), Tc bound to proteins (ca. 26%), and hydrophilic non-protein Tc species (ca. 25%). These results may yield a new insight into the metabolic pathways of Tc in plants.

A.V. Harms, present address: ECJRC Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM), Retieseweg, B-2440 Geel, Belgium.