Potential Production of Theranostic Boron Nitride Nanotubes (64Cu-BNNTs) Radiolabeled by Neutron Capture

Wellington Marcos Silva; Helio Ribeiro; Jose Jaime Taha-Tijerina

doi:10.3390/nano11112907

Potential Production of Theranostic Boron Nitride Nanotubes (⁶⁴Cu-BNNTs) Radiolabeled by Neutron Capture

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 Oct 30;11(11):2907. doi: 10.3390/nano11112907.

Authors

Wellington Marcos Silva¹, Helio Ribeiro², Jose Jaime Taha-Tijerina^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Presidente Antônio Carlos, 6.627, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, MG, Brazil.
² Escola de Engenharia, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Rua da Consolação 896, São Paulo 01302-907, SP, Brazil.
³ Departamento de Ingeniería, Universidad de Monterrey, Av. Ignacio Morones Prieto 4500 Pte., San Pedro Garza García 66238, NL, Mexico.
⁴ Engineering Technology Department, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX 78520, USA.

Abstract

In this work, the radioisotope ⁶⁴Cu was obtained from copper (II) chloride dihydrate in a nuclear research reactor by neutron capture, (⁶³Cu(n,γ)⁶⁴Cu), and incorporated into boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) using a solvothermal process. The produced ⁶⁴Cu-BNNTs were analyzed by TEM, MEV, FTIR, XDR, XPS and gamma spectrometry, with which it was possible to observe the formation of⁶⁴Cu nanoparticles, with sizes of up to 16 nm, distributed through nanotubes. The synthesized of ⁶⁴Cu nanostructures showed a pure photoemission peak of 511 keV, which is characteristic of gamma radiation. This type of emission is desirable for Photon Emission Tomography (PET scan) image acquisition, as well as its use in several cancer treatments. Thus, ⁶⁴Cu-BNNTs present an excellent alternative as theranostic nanomaterials that can be used in diagnosis and therapy by different techniques used in nuclear medicine.

Keywords: boron nitride; neutron capture reaction; nuclear medicine; theranostic nanomaterials.