CO-57: an electrophoretic investigation on the properties in the ultradiluted aqueous solutions

Abstract

Radioactive Cobalt is used in nuclear medicine mainly for radiotherapy as well as radiodiagnostics. Radiotherapeutic application usually includes extracorporeal gamma irradiation by means of nuclide Co-60, which spectrum is rich of very high energy gamma quanta. At the contrary, the isotope Co-57 emits merely low energy gamma quanta, thus represents a soft gamma emitter, highly suitable for the clinical radiodiagnostics. In-vivo treatment with the radioactive Cobalt drugs, however, provokes the risk of patient`s blood and tissue radioactive contamination, due to appearance of simple Cobalt ions and their insoluble forms. Therefore, it could be of a practical interest to know chemical properties as well as the behavior of the hydrated Cobalt ions in water solutions at microconcentrations as low as 10-6 - 10-7 mol.l-1. In this paper the highly suitable electromigration technique is discussed and applied. A set of collected radioanalytical data, including values of parameters such as ion mobilities, molar volumes, Stocks radii, hydration numbers and diffusion coefficients as well as their temperature dependence in water solutions is presented. Scripta Scientifica Medica 2008; 40(1):13-17