Dear listmembers,

I am a Ph. D student of KULeuven, Belgium and my research involves the
behaviour of technetium-99 in a reducing environment. I am searching for a
method to detect pertechnetate left in solution, after reduction to a lower
valence state. Because Tc is a beta emitter, the total amount in solution is
easily measured, but at the moment I cannot make a difference between
pertechnetate and other soluble Tc species with a lower valence (and which are
cationic or neutral).
Has anyone of you ever tried to detect pertechnetate (Tc-99) via anion
chromatography (with conductometry) ? At the moment, I do not get any results
at all. Even when considerably high amounts of pertechnetate are injected, no
peak is shown on the chromatogram. It is probably due to the low conductivity
of the HTcO4, but when I couple the IC to a fraction collector, the Tc does
not seem to "concentrate" in the separation column of the IC.
I really should appreciate it if anyone could give me some feedback relating
to this problem.

Thanks in advance.

Kathleen Geraedts

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Departement Interfasechemie
Kardinaal Mercierlaan 92, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
Tel +32-16-32.14.57 Fax +32-16-32.19.98