Phys.org: The synthesis and study of radioactive compounds are naturally difficult due to the extreme toxicity of the materials involved, but also because of the cost and scarcity of research isotopes.
Now, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and their collaborators at Oregon State University (OSU) have developed a new method to isolate and study in great detail some of the rarest and most toxic elements on Earth. The research appears in Nature Chemistry.
Traditional synthetic methods and chemical studies focus on small inorganic or organic complexes of the studied isotope and typically require several milligrams of sample per attempt.
Milligram quantities may not sound like a lot, but for some isotopes this is equivalent to the world’s yearly supply. Some radioisotopes also are too costly, too short-lived or too toxic to be studied with current methods, leaving them out of reach for detailed chemical studies.
signals coming out of superconducting quantum processors.the body.
and into the brain in recent years and how its presence eventually kills neurons.
But nagging questions remain, such as why therapies targeting beta-amyloid plaques don’t live up to expectations.
One ongoing area of interest is focusing not on the plaques but on the relationship beta-amyloid has with a class of fat-carrying chemicals called lipoproteins.