Due to their chemical and thermodynamic stability, fullerenes could pay an important role in encapsulation of radionuclides.  In this abstract, we report the first synthesis of the actinium endohedral fullerenes.  The a-emitter 225Ac (t1/2 =10 d) was contained in fullerenes by the d.c. arc discharge/catcher method in a He atmosphere.   Endohedral 225Ac and the bulk of C60 was dissolved from the catcher electrode (a Pt disk cover with a thin layer of C60) in toluene under N2 and converted to malonic ester derivative.  Cage stability was enhanced significantly by coupling the fullerene surface with organic adducts.  Repeated washing of the organic phase with dilute HNO3 demonstrated that a small fraction of 225Ac (~1 %) could not be removed from the organic phase and presumably were inside the fullerenes.   The 4.8-m Fr- 221 (a-decay daughter of 225Ac), however, was observed to leak from the cage as the results of the nuclear recoil process.

Synthesis and chemical stability of actinium-fullerenes

245th National Meeting (2013)

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