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Radiochemistry

Radiochemistry deals with the chemistry of natural and man-made radioactive materials. It also includes studies in which radioactive isotopes of certain elements are used to investigate the properties and chemical reactions of non-radioactive isotopes.

The wonders of radiochemistry

Radiochemistry covers a wide range of interests spanning all areas of chemistry. The use of radioactive isotopes opens the door to a variety of applications, analytical methods, and chemical reactions, which are impossible with ‘stable’ isotopes.

Many of the new methods in medicine, environmental protection and biology would be inconceivable without radiochemistry. Smallest sample amounts, dedicated requirements and protection of the installation site and the need for highly customized systems are part of the radiochemistry framework our instrumentation is used to work within.

XRD as an analytical tool

Recent developments in source and detector technology make Single Crystal X-ray diffraction an even more powerful method for the 3-d structure determination in radiochemistry. Today’s samples can be smaller than 100 microns but still processed in much less than a day.

Structure determination on 243Am compound

Single crystal X-ray diffraction provides complete structure of 243Am2[(C6(COO–)6](H2O)8 · 2 H2O. The mellitate ion plays an important role for studying the interactions of f-elements with humic acids and in spent nuclear fuel processing.