1. The affinity of boron-10 for neutrons is the basis of a technique known as born neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for treating patients suffering from brain tumours.
2. It is based on the nuclear reaction that occurs when boron-10 is irradiated with low- energy thermal neutoms to give high linear energy a-particles and a Li-particles.
3. Boron compounds are injected into a patient with a brain tumour and the compounds collect preferentially in the tumour. The tumour area is then irradiated with thermal neutom and results in the release of an alpha-particle that damages the tissue in the tumour each time a boron-10 nucleus captures a neutron.
3. In this way damages can be limited preferentially to the tumour, leaving the normal brain tissue less affected.
4. BNCT has also been studied as a treatment for several other tumours of the head and neck, The breast, the prostate, the bladder and the liver.
Commn Errors and its Rectifications
Common Errors:
- Ores formula may be difficult to remember.
- Allotropes of elements may confuse the students in writing equation.
Rectifications:
- Only chief ore from which the element is extracted can be easy to remember.
- Crystalline forms are more chemically reactive.