Aqueous Liquid Scintillation Counting with Fluor-Containing Nanosuspensions.

JC Weekley, S Wuenschel, PE Rosentiel, RJ Mumper, and M Jay.

Appl. Rad. Isotop. (2004) 60:887-891.

Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536-0082, USA.

A microemulsion comprised of water, Brij 78, pentanol and styrene into which PPO and bis-MSB had been dissolved was prepared. Polymerization of the styrene resulted in a suspension of fluor-containing polystyrene nanoparticles (<100 nm). After a concentration step, the aqueous nanosuspension was able to detect (14)C with counting efficiencies over 50% of those of a commercially available scintillation cocktail. Monte Carlo calculations demonstrated that the size and concentration of the nanoparticles were appropriate for optimum detection efficiency.

PMID: 15110354 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]