Characterization of Technetium Species Induced in Spinach

Abstract

AbstractPlants 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%), TcV‐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.