Valency states of radioactive antimony in hydrochloric acid solutions. Preparation and stability of antimony tracer for radioanalytical use

Variations of¹²⁵Sb valency states in HCl solutions were investigated by the use of the N-benzoyl-N-phenyl-hydroxylamine (BPHA) extraction method.¹²⁵Sb(V) is completely reduced to Sb(III) by one hour refluxing in conc. HCl.¹²⁵Sb(III) is gradually oxidized to Sb(V) in solutions of low HCl concentrations by the effects of their own radiations. Natural light promotes such oxidation reactions. By utilizing such oxidation-reduction effects¹²⁵Sb(V) can be easily prepared from¹²⁵Sb(III) and also¹²⁵Sb(III) can be prepared by the reduction of Cl _aq ⁻ . Their valency states were stable on keeping them in brown-colored bottles at 6M HCl concentrations.