Commercial and medicinal applications of functionalized carbon nanotubes (f-CNTs) such as amidated f-CNTs are expanding rapidly with a potential risk exposure to living organisms. The effects of amidated f-CNTs on aquatic species have received a limited attention. In this work, an easy wet method to prepare [14C]-label amide multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) is reported. Labeled carbon nanotubes were prepared by successive reactions of carboxylation, chloroacylation, and final amidation using [14C]-labeled ethanolamine. The f-CNTs were characterized using elemental analysis, electron dispersive X-ray, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and Raman and FTIR spectroscopy. An uptake experiment was carried out with juvenile Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) using water dispersed amidated [14C]-f-CNTs to assess their biodistribution in fish tissues using whole body autoradiography. The radioactivity pattern observed in fish head suggests that f-CNTs were accumulated in head bone canals, possibly involving an interaction with mineral or organic phases of bones such as calcium and collagen. This f-CNTs distribution illustrates how important is to consider the surface charges of functionalized carbon nanotubes in ecotoxicological studies.
Keywords: Amide functionalization; Canal bones; Carbon nanotubes; Fish; Radiolabeling method.