Inositol hexaphosphate: a potential chelating agent for uranium

Abstract

Chelation therapy is an optimal method to reduce the radionuclide-related risks. In the case of uranium incorporation, the treatment of choice is so far i.v infusion of a 1.4% sodium bicarbonate solution, but the efficacy has been proved to be not very high. In this study, we examine the efficacy of some substances: bicarbonate, citrate, diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA), ethidronate (EHBP) and inositol hexaphosphate (phytic acid) to chelate uranium using a test developed by Braun et al. Different concentrations of phytic acid, an abundant component of plant seeds that is widely distributed in animal cells and tissues in substantial levels, were tested and compared to the same concentrations of sodium citrate, bicarbonate, EHBP and DTPA. The results showed a strong affinity of inositol hexaphosphate for uranium, suggesting that it could be an effective chelating agent for uranium in vivo.

The effect of the tetraalkylammonium salts on the protonation thermodynamics of the phytate anion

“…Recently, a review on the sequestering ability of this ligand in aqueous solutions, with particular reference to natural waters and biological fluids [6], has also been reported. Some applications of phytic acid regard its use in the remediation field for the removal of toxic metal and organo-metal cations [7][8][9][10], in electrochemistry as sensor [11] and many others described in recent reviews [6,[12][13][14][15][16].…”

Physical, Chemical and Phytoremediation Technique for Removal of Heavy Metals

“…Phytic acid is also known to chelate uranium. A study by Cebrian and his colleagues found that the In vitro ability of phytic acid to chelate uranium was 2.0, 2.6 and 16 times higher than that observed for ethidronate, citric acid and diethylenetriaminepenta-acetic acid (DTPA) respectively [74].…”

On the interaction of phytate with proton and monocharged inorganic cations in different ionic media, and modeling of acid-base properties at low ionic strength

“…As for equation (4), the parameter D i of equation (3) can be considered as a sort of complex formation constant, i.e., a combination of the stability constants of various M + /phytate complexes formed in a given medium. These ''classical'' stability constants of phytate complexes can be calculated as described in the dedicated section.…”

“…Phytic acid takes place in many physiological reactions, and its use in many fields is continuously growing, mainly thanks to its binding ability towards many metal and organo-metal cations, as well as other ligands [1][2][3][4][5][6]. These properties, together with many other possible use of phytate (e.g., in electrochemistry), are well described in many books and papers (e.g., [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] and references therein).…”