Radioactive Carbon Dioxide

C]-Carbon dioxide -radioactive tracer precursor [RADIOACTIVE TRACERS] (Vol 20)... 

Figure 20.2. Tracing the Fate of Carbon Dioxide. Radioactivity from C02 is incorporated into 3-phosphoglycerate within 5 s in irradiated cultures of algae. After 60 s, the radioactivity appears in many compounds, the intermediates within the Calvin cycle. [Courtesy of Dr. J. A. Bassham.]...

Figure 20.2 Tracing the fate of carbon dioxide. Radioactivity from is incorporated...

A disadvantage of burning the graphite moderator is the larger volume of carbon dioxide, radioactive because of S730-year C, which must be removed completely from combustion... 

Carbon 14 is being made at a steady rate in the upper atmosphere. Cosmic-ray neutrons transmute nitrogen into carbon 14, by the reaction given in the preceding section. The radiocarbon is oxidized to carbon dioxide, which is thoroughly mixed with the nonradioactive carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, through the action of winds. The steady-state concentration of carbon 14 built up in the atmosphere by cosmic rays is about one atom of radioactive carbon to 10 - atoms of ordinary carbon. The carbon dioxide, radioactive and nonradioactive alike, is absorbed by plants, which fix the carbon in their tissues. Animals that eat the plants... 

The radioactive isotopes available for use as precursors for radioactive tracer manufacturing include barium [ C]-carbonate [1882-53-7], tritium gas, p2p] phosphoric acid or pP]-phosphoric acid [15364-02-0], p S]-sulfuric acid [13770-01 -9], and sodium [ I]-iodide [24359-64-6]. It is from these chemical forms that the corresponding radioactive tracer chemicals are synthesized. [ C]-Carbon dioxide, [ C]-benzene, and [ C]-methyl iodide require vacuum-line handling in weU-ventilated fume hoods. Tritium gas, pH]-methyl iodide, sodium borotritide, and [ I]-iodine, which are the most difficult forms of these isotopes to contain, must be handled in specialized closed systems. Sodium p S]-sulfate and sodium [ I]-iodide must be handled similarly in closed systems to avoid the Uberation of volatile p S]-sulfur oxides and [ I]-iodine. Adequate shielding must be provided when handling P P]-phosphoric acid to minimize exposure to external radiation. 

Synthetic chemical approaches to the preparation of carbon-14 labeled materials iavolve a number of basic building blocks prepared from barium [ CJ-carbonate (2). These are carbon [ C]-dioxide [ CJ-acetjlene [U— C]-ben2ene, where U = uniformly labeled [1- and 2- C]-sodium acetate, [ C]-methyl iodide, [ C]-methanol, sodium [ C]-cyanide, and [ CJ-urea. Many compHcated radiotracers are synthesized from these materials. Some examples are [l- C]-8,ll,14-eicosatrienoic acid [3435-80-1] inoxn. [ CJ-carbon dioxide, [ting-U— C]-phenyhsothiocyanate [77590-93-3] ftom [ " CJ-acetjlene, [7- " C]-norepinephrine [18155-53-8] from [l- " C]-acetic acid, [4- " C]-cholesterol [1976-77-8] from [ " CJ-methyl iodide, [l- " C]-glucose [4005-41-8] from sodium [ " C]-cyanide, and [2- " C]-uracil [626-07-3] [27017-27-2] from [ " C]-urea. All syntheses of the basic radioactive building blocks have been described (4). 

Even higher organisms can be used for the production of labeled compounds. Plants, tobacco, or Canna indica for example, when grown in an exclusive atmosphere of radioactive carbon dioxide, [ 002], utilize the labeled precursor as the sole source of carbon for photosynthesis. After a suitable period of growth, almost every carbon atom in the plant is radioactive. Thus, plants can serve as an available source of C-labeled carbohydrates (9). 

C-labeled carbon dioxide is administered to a green plant, and shortly thereafter the following compounds are isolated from the plant 3-phosphoglycerate, glucose, erythrose-4-phosphate, sedoheptulose-l,7-bisphosphate, ribose-5-phosphate. In which carbon atoms will radioactivity be found ... 

Though measurements of solar output have been taken only for the past eighteen years, longer trend patterns can be derived from indirect data sources, such as ice cores and tree rings. Cosmic rays, which fluctuate with the sun s activity, also strike constituents of the atmosphere, creating radioactive versions of certain elements. Beiyllium, in particular, is ionized to "Be by cosmic rays. The "Be then gets incorporated into trees as they grow, and is trapped in bubbles in ice masses, as is carbon dioxide. 

Reduction of cnviromncntal pollution requires lower energy use and new technology to decrease emission of gases such as sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, and to prevent toxic fluoride, heavy metal, and radioactive wastes from discharging into the environment. 

Carbon-14 (C-14) with a half-life of 5730 years decays to nitrogen-14 (N-14). A sample of carbon dioxide containing carbon in the form of C-14 only is sealed in a vessel at 1.00-atmosphere pressure. Over time, the CO2 becomes NO2 through the radioactive decay process. The following equilibrium is established ... 

Soon after their creation, the newly formed radiocarbon atoms react with atmospheric oxygen to form radioactive carbon dioxide, molecules of carbon dioxide in which the carbon atom is radiocarbon ... 

After treatment of XXXVI with aqueous barium hydroxide, the liquor contained formic, methoxyacetic, and ethoxyacetic acids, methoxyacetone, and ethoxyacetone, produced by the two modes of cleavage XXXVIa and XXXVIb. Formic acid was converted with red mercuric oxide to carbon dioxide this was recovered as barium carbonate, the radioactivity of which was a measure of the C14 incorporated into Cl of kojic acid in the biosynthetic process. The alkoxyacetones were removed from the liquor by steam distillation, and converted to iodoform and a mixture of methoxy- and ethoxy-acetic acids. The iodoform was recovered by filtration its radioactivity indicated the proportion of C14 incorporated into C4. The alkoxy-... 

Williams [176] has studied the rate of oxidation of C-labelled glucose in seawater by persulfate. After the oxidation, carbon dioxide was blown off and residual activity was measured. For glucose concentrations of 2000, 200, and 20 xg/l, residual radioactivities (as percentage of total original radioactivity) were 0.04, 0.05, and 0.025, respectively, showing that biochemical compounds are extensively oxidised by persulfate. With the exception of change of temperature, modifications of conditions had little or no effect. Oxidation for 2.5 h at 100 °C was the most efficient. 

Expired air. For 14C-labeled chemicals, the tracer carbon may be incorporated in vivo into carbon dioxide, a possible metabolic product. Therefore, when the position of the radiolabel indicates the potential for biological instability, a pilot study to collect expired air and monitor its radioactivity content should be conducted prior to initiating a full-scale study. Expired air studies should also be performed in situations where the radiolabel has been postulated to be stable but analyses of urine and feces from the toxicokinetic study fail to yield complete recovery (mass balance) of the dose. 

Experiments involving the release of radioactive carbon dioxide from MSMA-14C treated soils were conducted in a system consisting of two test tubes connected in series. One tube contained 5g of treated soil (at 10 and lOOppm of monosodium methane arsenic acid carbon dioxide while a second tube contained a trapping mixture, 2-methoxyethanol and monoethanolamine (7-10, v/v). Carbon dioxide-free air was passed over the soil and metabolic 14CO was collected in the trapping solution. The soils studied were Sharkey cldy, Hagerstown silty clay loam, Cecil sandy loam, and Dundee silty clay loam. All soils were initially adjusted to field capacity and maintained at 28-30°C the evolved 14CO was sampled periodically. Some properties of these soils are shown in Tabfe 13.1. 

Urea acts not only as an ammonia source but also forms decomposition products, such as biuret and higher condensation products. 14C labeling has indicated that the carbon atom of the urea molecule is not incorporated into the phthalocyanine structure. Employing a phthalic anhydride molecule bearing one radioac-tively labeled carbonyl function affords labeled copper phthalocyanine and phthalimide (as a side product), while the liberated carbon dioxide was found not to show any radioactivity. Labeled carbon dioxide, on the other hand, has been obtained in corresponding experiments using 14C labeled urea. 

C02 and in the Okoh (1983) study, about 4% of the radioactivity was expired, mostly as carbon dioxide. See Section 2.3.4 for information on studies examining elimination and excretion. 

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