Production, Collection, and Purification of ⁴⁷Ca for the Generation of ⁴⁷Sc through Isotope Harvesting at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory

Abstract

An experiment was performed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory using a 140 MeV/nucleon 48 Ca beam and a flowing-water target to produce 47 Ca for the first time with this production route. A production rate of 0.020 ± 0.004 47 Ca nuclei per incoming beam particle was measured. An isotope harvesting system attached to the target was used to collect radioactive cationic products, including 47 Ca, from the water on a cation-exchange resin. The 47 Ca collected was purified using three separation methods optimized for this work: (1) DGA extraction chromatography resin with HNO 3 and HCl, (2) AG MP-50 cation-exchange resin with an increasing concentration gradient of HCl, and (3) AG MP-50 cation-exchange resin with a methanolic HCl gradient. These methods resulted in ≥99 ± 2% separation yield of 47 Ca with 100% radionuclidic purity within the limits of detection for HPGe measurements. Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was used to identify low levels of stable ions in the water of the isotope harvesting system during the irradiation and in the final purified solution of 47 Ca. For the first time, this experiment demonstrated the feasibility of the production, collection, and purification of 47 Ca through isotope harvesting for the generation of 47 Sc for nuclear medicine applications.

Evaluation of two extraction chromatography resins for scandium and titanium separation for medical isotope production

“…It is also possible to produce 47 Sc via the beta decay of 47 Ca. To do this, 47 Ca is generally produced via photon or proton irradiation of 48 Ca [24,25], neutron irradiation of 46 Ca [24,26], or fragmentation of a 48 Ca beam in water [27].…”

Nuclear Cross-Section of Proton-Induced Reactions on Enriched 48Ti Targets for the Production of Theranostic 47Sc Radionuclide, 46cSc, 44mSc, 44gSc, 43Sc, and 48V

“…With the 70 MeV proton cyclotron installed at the INFN-LNL, the research activities carried out within Laboratory of Radionuclides for Medicine (LARAMED) are focused on the production of emerging radionuclides with proton beams [ 2 ]. Among the radionuclides of major interest for our team is 47 Sc, a theranostic radionuclide that presents suitable decay characteristics for SPECT imaging and β − therapy ( Table 1 ), which can be also paired with the β + emitter counterparts 43 Sc and 44 Sc for PET applications [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. The lack of 47 Sc production is limiting its use in preclinical and clinical trials; for this reason, the 47 Sc proton-based production routes have been investigated within the PASTA and REMIX projects [ 1 , 2 ].…”

Excitation functions of proton-induced nuclear reactions on natCaCO3 up to 60 MeV

“…Recent research has demonstrated the therapeutic suitability of 47 Sc with the diagnostic analogue 44 Sc [1,2,3]. In practice there are almost more than 10 reactions are reported to produce 47 Sc which includes using both reactors and accelerators [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37] and by taking Ti, V or Ca as target materials. When it comes to accelerators, cyclotrons with proton beams are available in large numbers compared to other charged particle accelerator facilities.…”