RESUMO
Bismuth-213 is a radionuclide of interest for targeted alpha therapy and is supplied via a radiochemical generator system through the decay of 225Ac. Radionuclide generators employ longer lived "parent" radionuclides to routinely supply shorter-lived "daughter" radionuclides. The traditional 225Ac/213Bi radiochemical generator relies on an organic cation exchange resin where 225Ac binds to the resin and 213Bi is routinely eluted. These resins degrade when they absorb large doses of ionizing radiation (>1 × 106 Gy/mg), which has been observed when the loading activity of 225Ac exceeds 2.59*109 Bq (70 mCi). Herein we report the development of an electrochemical generator for the supply of 213Bi that has the potential to overcome this limitation. Bismuth-213 spontaneously electrodeposits onto nickel foils in 0.1 M hydrochloric acid at 70 °C. Using this method, we were able to plate an average of 73 ± 4 % of the 213Bi in solution and obtain a final 213Bi recovery of 65 ± 8 % in 0.1 M citrate pH 4.5 via reverse electrolysis using titanium as the cathode. The recovered 213Bi had an average radiochemical purity of >99.8 % and was successfully used to radiolabel DOTATATE with an average radiochemical yield of 85.1 % (not optimized).