High Resolution Laser Spectroscopy Of Lanthanide Ions In Biochemical Systems

By a happy coincidence, the completion of this text coincided with the 200th anniversary of the discovery of gadolinite, the mineral with which the lanthanide story begins. For a group of elements which occur in only trace amounts biologically, and which have no known metabolic role, the lanthanides have spawned a surprisingly large biochemicalliterature. Se rious interest in the biochemical properties ofthese elements can be traced to concerns about the safety of radioactive lanthanides toward the end of World War 11. As recent events at Chernobyl indicate, this concern re mains topical. However, the literature on lanthanide biochemistry pre dates the atomic era, beginning with sporadic, medically motivated studies in the latter part of the 19th century. Much of the present biochemical activity involving the lanthanides centers around their ability to provide 2 important information on the interactions of Ca + with macromolecules and with eukafyotic cells. With the increasing industrial use of the lan thanides, their toxicological properties will need to be examined more closely. Rare earth pneumonoconiosis has already been identified as a disease produced by industrial exposure to lanthanides. Several of the biochemical properties of the lanthanides are of relevance to modern medicine. Already cerium-based ointments are used to treat burn wounds, while paramagnetic lanthanides find application in nuclear magnetic res onance imaging. This book is an attempt to collate and to present in reasonable detail existing knowledge of lanthanide biochemistry before the literature be comes unmanageable.

Lanthanides have fascinated scientists for more than two centuries now, and since efficient separation techniques were established roughly 50 years ago, they have increasingly found their way into industrial exploitation and our everyday lives. Numerous applications are based on their unique luminescent properties, which are highlighted in this volume. It presents established knowledge about the photophysical basics, relevant lanthanide probes or materials, and describes instrumentation-related aspects including chemical and physical sensors. The uses of lanthanides in bioanalysis and medicine are outlined, such as assays for in vitro diagnostics and research. All chapters were compiled by renowned scientists with a broad audience in mind, providing both beginners in the field and advanced researchers with comprehensive information on on the given subject.

Lanthanide elements were first used some thirty years ago in the optical glass industry, followed shortly by their use as NMR shift reagents in organic chemistry. Since then, the application of lanthanides in studies of organic and biochemical systems by use of their NMR and spectroscopic properties has created a rapidly growing interest in the physics and chemistry of these elements. Their use in industrial catalysts, electronic and optical components, high-temperature superconductors, in medicine as X-ray intensifying materials, relaxation agents for imaging techniques or radioisotopes for pharmaceutical applications, have combined with their utilisation in science as probes of a wide variety of phenomena giving them a prominent place in modern science. In this book, leading experts describe the various facets of the application of lanthanides as probes in life, chemical and earth sciences. The aim is to provide guidance to scientists who may wish to use the unique advantages of lanthanide probes in their own fields.To supplement the chapters on the basic concepts of the application of lanthanides, chapters are provided on the basic chemistry of these elements and on the synthetic and analytical aspects of lanthanides and their compounds. The book thus provides a great deal of useful information which will no doubt assist scientists in using these fascinating and valuable elements in their research.

Optical Spectroscopy of Lanthanides: Magnetic and Hyperfine Interactions represents the sixth and final book by the late Brian Wybourne, an accomplished pioneer in the spectroscopy of rare earth ions, and Lidia Smentek, a leading theoretical physicist in the field. The book provides a definitive and up-to-date theoretical description of spectroscopic properties of lanthanides doped in various materials. The book integrates computer-assisted calculations developed since Wybourne's classic publication on the topic. It contains useful Maple(tm) routines, discussions, and new aspects of the theory of f-electron systems. Establishing a unified basis for understanding state-of-the-art applications and techniques used in the field, the book reviews fundamentals based on Wybourne's graduate lectures, which include the theory of nuclei, the theory of angular momentum, Racah algebra, and effective tensor operators. It then describes magnetic and hyperfine interactions and their impact on the energy structure and transition amplitudes of the lanthanide ions. The text culminates with a relativistic description of f↔f electric and magnetic dipole transitions, covering sensitized luminescence and a new parametrization scheme of f-spectra. Optical Spectroscopy of Lanthanides enables scientists to construct accurate and reliable theoretical models to elucidate lanthanides and their properties. This text is ideal for exploring a range of lanthanide applications including electronic data storage, lasers, superconductors, medicine, nuclear engineering, and nanomaterials.