Chemistry: A Volatile History to investigate. Marie Curie began her investigations by testing a uranium ore called pitchblende with an electrometer. She discovered it was four times more radioactive than pure uranium, and wondered if this was due to the presence of an even more radioactive element in the pitchblende. Curie began stockpiling tonnes of pitchblende, then in the most basic of workshops with primitive equipment she undertook a multitude of complex and dangerous procedures in an attempt to isolate this new element. In the event, Curie discovered two new elements, polonium named after her native Poland and radium. Whilst these were naturally occurring
Bioremediation of radioactive waste acids and siderophores that allow the dissolution and mobilization of radionuclides through the soil. It seems that siderophores on bacterial surface could also facilitate the entry of these elements within the cell as well. "Pseudomonas aeruginosa" also secretes chelating agents out that meet uranium and thorium when grown in a medium with these elements. In general, it has also been found that enterobactin siderophores are extremely effective in solubilizing actinide oxides of plutonium. Citrate is a chelator which binds to certain transition metals and radioactive actinides. Stable complexes such as bidentate, tridentate (ligands with more than one atom bound) and