Researchers in Spain have come up with a way to track the biodistribution of a boron cluster complex used to prepare boron-carrier drugs for a prospective cancer treatment called boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT).
Drugs based on the boron cluster complex COSAN (cobaltabisdicarbollide) exploit the over-expression of membrane receptors in cancer cells to deliver therapeutic levels of 10B across the membrane. Although 10B is a stable isotope, when a beam of low-energy neutrons is applied to the cell, 10B captures a neutron and subsequently decays, releasing a high-energy α-particle and destroying the cell.
Read the full article in Chemistry World»
Read the original journal article in ChemComm – it’s free to access until 26th September:
COSAN as a molecular imaging platform: synthesis and “in vivo” imaging
Kiran B. Gona, Adnana Zaulet, Vanessa Gómez-Vallejo, Francesc Teixidor, Jordi Llop and Clara Viñas
Chem. Commun., 2014, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C4CC05058D, Communication
