A compact solvent extraction based 99Mo/99mTc generator for hospital radiopharmacy.

A compact and portable 99Mo-99 mTc generator based on solvent-extraction, mimic to the conventional 99Mo-99 mTc alumina column generator is much-needed commodity for use in hospital radiopharmacy setup. The present study includes the development of a portable, simple and low cost 99Mo/99 mTc-generator based on MEK solvent extraction technique to obtain a very high concentration of no-carrier added (nca) 99 mTc solution, where low specific activity 99Mo source is obtained through 98Mo(n, γ)99Mo reaction in a research reactor. The unit is intended for operation under the conditions of medical radiological laboratories. Technical trials showed that the mean time of preparation of sodium [99mTc] pertechnetate radiopharmaceutical did not exceed 15 min. The quality and yield of 99 mTc-pertechnetate is upto the mark for formulation of radiopharmaceuticals.

Preparation and evaluation of SnO2-based 68Ge/68Ga generator made from 68Ge produced through (nat)Zn(α,xn) reaction.

(68)Ge was produced by (nat)Zn(α,xn)(68)Ge reaction and its production yield was 31.82 kBq/µAh (0.86 µCi/µAh) at the end of irradiation (EOI). A simple chromatographic method using a SnO2 column was employed to separate (68)Ge from the target material and the co-produced non-isotopic radioisotope impurities. (68)Ge retained in the column served as the (68)Ge/(68)Ga generator. Elution efficiency of the column was about 60%. First 2 ml of the eluate contained more than 95% of the elutable activity. Post-elution purification cum concentration was done with a small cation exchange resin column. The presence of the inactive tin ions in the (68)Ga eluate was determined by the ICP-OES technique and was found to be about 0.03 ppm. Radiochemical purity of the final (68)Ga preparation was more than 99.99% and it was found to be suitable for making complex with ethylenediamine-N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(methylene phosphonic acid) (EDTMP).