Sulphur, radioactive, production

The reactions were carried out in each case with a 0-1 per cent protein solution in phosphate buffer (pH 6 8), to which the radioactive phosphorofluoridate was added as a concentrated solution in dry ethanol. At the end of the reaction time, the product was dialysed for 20 hr. against running water, and precipitated at 0° by addition of two volumes of acetone. The precipitate was spun off and washed at —5° with ethanol and ether, and dried in air or over sulphuric acid. Samples of 25-50 mg. of dry powder were used for radioactivity determinations, and compared with a standard prepared by hydrolysing a weighed amount (ca. 1 mg.) of the phosphorofluoridate in n sodium hydroxide, neutralizing and drying. 

Crystallisation was one of the earliest methods used for separation of radioactive microcomponents from a mass of inert material. Uranium X, a thorium isotope, is readily concentrated in good yield in the mother liquors of crystallisation of uranyl nitrate (11), (33), (108). A similar method has been used to separate sulphur-35 [produced by the (n, p) reaction on chlorine-35] from pile irradiated sodium ot potassium chloride (54), (133). Advantage is taken of the low solubility of the target materials in concentrated ice-cold hydrochloric acid, when the sulphur-35 as sulphate remains in the mother-liquors. Subsequent purification of the sulphur-35 from small amounts of phosphorus-32 produced by the (n, a) reaction on the chlorine is, of course, required. Other examples are the precipitation of barium chloride containing barium-1 from concentrated hydrochloric acid solution, leaving the daughter product, carrier-free caesium-131, in solution (21) and a similar separation of calcium-45 from added barium carrier has been used (60). 

They nitrated radioactive toluene-l-14C with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acid at 0°, 30°, 45° and 60°C. After nitration the whole was diluted, with water and steam distilled. Thus mononitro-products were separated from unnitrated toluene and dinitro products. The weighted sample of isomeric mononitro-toluene was diluted with a known quantity of non-radioactive m- nitrotoluene and the mixture was distilled through an efficient micro-fractionating column in order to recover a pure sample of m- nitrotoluene. The m- nitrotoluene was oxidized by dichromate-sulphuric acid mixture to m- nitrobenzoic acid and this material was radio-assayed. The proportion of m- nitrotoluene in the mixed nitrotoluenes was calculated from the formula... 

Uranium Z, also thought to be a product of uranium X, was discovered by Hahn in 1921, who isolated it in the following manner. The mother-liquors from repeated fractional crj stallisations of uranous nitrate, containing uranium X and uranium Z, w ere treated with ferric chloride solution, and the iron precipitated by means of ammonia and ammonium carbonate. The precipitate, which contained both the uranium Xj and uranium Z, was treated with a solution of tantalum in hydrofluoric acid, lanthanum nitrate added, and the mixture digested on a water-bath with dilute hydrofluoric and sulphuric acids. Lanthanum fluoride was precipitated, and carried do%vn with it uranium The filtrate was evaporated to dryness and the residue ignited. The tantalum was thus rendered insoluble, whilst the iron could be removed by means of concentrated hydrochloric acid. The uranium Z remained with the tantalum. By this means Hahn obtained specimens of uranium Z which were 99-5 per cent, radioactively pure. 

Sulphur, for example, produced phosphorus-32, which was used as a tracer in botanical studies. CPD s chemical production branch would take irradiated material of this type from the reactor and chemically separate the radioactive element from its progenitor. Aside from phosphorus-32, CPDs line of separated isotopes included iodine-131, the isotope used most ficquendy (or medical diagnosis at the time iodine-125, also used for clinical test procedures carbon-14, a tracer for agricultural applications and mercury-197. All these sold steadily, if unspectacularly. The main customers were a handfril of pharmaceutical firms in Canada, the United States, and West Germany. 

The dispersion of sulphur in rubber compounds was studied using radioisotopes. The radioactivity of the sulphur-35 isotope introduced into rubber compounds was measured by volumetric and surface methods. These methods could be used to investigate physical and chemical processes in rubber and to optimise technical conditions of tyre production. It was found that the radioisotopic methods could be used in studies of sulphur blooming. Experimental data were obtained on the effect of mixing and the storage temps, of the rubber compound on these processes. Rubber compounds containing soluble sulphur, insoluble Crystex sulphur and T-accelerator were used for the studies. 20 refs. 

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