SEARCH FOR PLANT-INDUCED TECHNETIUM SPECIES WITH SIZE-EXCLUSION AND REVERSED-PHASE ION-PAIR CHROMATOGRAPHY

Ln this work an attempt is made to have a closer look at technetium sp ecies (TcX) induced by spinach plants, grown on TcO4- containing nutri ent solutions. To this end, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and re versed-phase ion-pair chromatography (RP-LPC) were used: The performan ce was established with model compounds, i.e., anionic Tc-DTPA and cat ionic Tc-cyclam, used as mimics for TcX. Under the conditions applied, the information retrieved from high performance RP-IPC was minimal du e to strong interactions of the technetium species with the Nucleosil C18 stationary phase. However, in low-pressure SEC non-size effects al lowed differentiation of TcX into two distinct classes of technetium c ompounds, i.e., TcX1 and TcX2. From retention behavior in SEC, it was possible to speculate on the chemical properties of these two techneti um species.