Structural investigation of Neptunium(V) in toxicological processes

General understanding needs to be deepened of intramolecular interactions engaged in molecular actinide species, i.e. physical chemical mechanisms that drive the affinity of chelating ligands for actinide cations still needs to be deepened. In this field, X-ray absorption spectroscopy has been extensively used as a structural and electronic metal cation probe. Combination with more traditional spectroscopic techniques such as spectrophotometry is an ideal tool for the understanding of the chelation mechanism. Metallobiomolecules are considered elaborate inorganic complexes with well-designed metal active sites. Although the various interaction processes between essential cations important to biology and proteins are widely studied, focus on the actinides is more seldom. Actinide impact on biological cycles has been motivated by risk assessments related to the wide use of nuclear fuel sources and industrial or military applications. In particular, the interaction between these cations with the biological active complexation sites are only partially understood.