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 alphaparticle that damages the tissue in the tumour each time a boron-10 nucleus captures a neutron.
4. In this way damages can be limited preferentially to the tumour, leaving the normal brain tissue less affected.
5. 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:
1. Ores formula may be difficult to remember.
2. Allotropes of elements may confuse the students in writing equation.
Rectifications:
1. Only chief ore from which the element is extracted can be easy to remember.
2. Crystalline forms are more chemically reactive.
