Acquisition of a Liquid Scintillation Spectrometer for Undergraduate Education

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Radioisotopes are important tools in biochemical and medical research, as well as in environmental monitoring and radiochemical research. This project focuses on the adaptation of current research techniques in biochemistry, environmental science, and radiochemistry into the undergraduate laboratory experience of chemistry students at Tennessee Technological University. Liquid scintillation spectrometry is the primary counting technique for weak beta emitters and, with advances in current instrumentation, the analysis of alpha emitters is becoming common. The objectives of this project are: 1) providing the students with experience in sample preparation and analysis of alpha and weak beta emitters; 2) providing students with an appreciation of the internal workings of the system so that the instrument becomes more than "a black box that produces a number;" and 3) furnishing the students with a tool to attack advanced problems in radiochemistry and biochemistry. Examples of adaptations are the measurement of the binding of small molecules to proteins (Boles, Biochemistry, 1990 and Boles, J. Biol. Chem., 1992), the determination of radionuclides in drinking water using new absorbent materials (Smith, Radiochimica Acta, 1993), and the incorporation of 99Tc into radiopharmaceuticals (Deutsch, J. Nucl. Med, 1987).The instrument exhibits high sensitivity and low background, separates alpha and beta counts through the use of time-resolved pulse shape analysis, allows the observation of the differences between alpha and beta pulse shapes, and performs isotopic identification based on the energy spectra with the use of live spectral display. This project results in a more effective linkage between undergraduate students and professional schools, graduate studies, industrial positions, or government laboratories, where an understanding of the theory, operating characteristics, and applications of liquid scintillation spectroscopy is needed.