From the danger posed by potential contamination of individuals with radioactive fission products after a nuclear accident to the therapeutic use of short-lived alpha-emitting isotopes for cancer treatment, the solution chemistry of lanthanides and actinides has become increasingly relevant to a number of applied problems. Understanding the fundamental bonding interactions of selective <i>f</i>-element assemblies presents a rich set of scientific challenges and is critical to the characterization of transuranic actinide coordination chemistry in environmentally and biologically relevant species and to the development of highly efficient separation reagents or new therapeutic agents. Our approach to these challenges uses a combination of biochemical and spectroscopic studies on both in vitro and in vivo systems to characterize the selective binding of actinide ions by natural and biomimetic hard oxygen-donor architectures. These studies have led to the recent development of an investigational new drug for radionuclide decorporation and are now opening new directions for the design of alpha-targeted therapeutics.

Biological chemistry of f-elements: From decontamination to targeted radiotherapy

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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