MAGNETIC MOLECULES: PROCESS UTILIZING FUNCTIONALIZED MAGNETIC FERRITINS FOR THE SELECTIVE REMOVAL OF CONTAMINANTS FROM SOLUTION BY MAGNETIC FILTRATION

摘要

A decontamination system uses magnetic molecules having ferritin cores to selectively remove target contaminant ions from a solution. The magnetic molecule (101) is based upon a ferritin protein structure and has a central cavity (103) which contains a very small magnetic ferritin core (105) and a selective ion exchange function such as a porphyrin (107) and/or a crown ether (109) attached to its surface. Various types of ion exchange functions can be attached to the magnetic molecules, each of which is designed to remove a specific contaminant such as radioactive ions. The ion exchange functions allow the magnetic molecules to selectively absorb the contaminant ions from a solution while being inert to other non-target ions. The magnetic properties of the magnetic molecule (101) allow the magnetic molecules and the absorbed contaminant ions to be removed from solution by magnetic filtration.