Abstract
Cu is an important trace metal which plays a role in many biological processes. The radioisotope 64Cu is often used to study such processes. Furthermore, 64Cu finds applications in cancer diagnostics as well as therapy. For all of these applications 64Cu having high specific activity is needed. 64Cu can be produced in cyclotrons or in nuclear reactors. In this paper we study the effect of gamma dose on the production of 64Cu according to the Szilard-Chalmers reaction using Cu(II)-phthalocyanine as a target. For this purpose, irradiations were performed in the nuclear reactor of the Delft University of Technology using a novel irradiation facility helping to limit the dose produced by gammas present in the reactor pool. The obtained 64Cu activity yield was in general above 60% in accordance to the theoretical expected value. An increase in gamma dose has no significant influence on the obtained activity yield but increases the loss of Cu from Cu(II)-phthalocyanine up to 0.9% and hence decreases the specific activity that can be obtained. However, without optimisation, when reducing the gamma dose specific activities in the order of 30 TBq/g can be achieved.
Highlights
Cu is a trace element important in numerous biological processes like neurotransmitter synthesis and iron metabolism (Kim et al, 2014), but it is involved in tumour angiogenesis and neurodegenerative diseases (Laura et al, 2013). 64Cu is an radioactive isotope of Cu with a half-life of 12.7 h, decaying either by electron capture (44%) and βþ (17.5%) to stable 64Ni or by βÀ (38.5%) to stable 64Zn (Laboratory, 2000)
The objective of the present paper is to investigate the influence of the gamma dose on the specific activity of 64Cu using Cu(II)phthalocyanine as a target and a special irradiation facility allowing for decreasing the gamma dose with little loss of neutron flux
Cu(II)-phthalocyanine complexes can be used in the production of high specific activity 64Cu using the Szilard-Chalmers effect
Summary
Cu is a trace element important in numerous biological processes like neurotransmitter synthesis and iron metabolism (Kim et al, 2014), but it is involved in tumour angiogenesis and neurodegenerative diseases (Laura et al, 2013). 64Cu is an radioactive isotope of Cu with a half-life of 12.7 h, decaying either by electron capture (44%) and βþ (17.5%) to stable 64Ni or by βÀ (38.5%) to stable 64Zn (Laboratory, 2000). Because of these decay characteristics 64Cu can be used in imaging i.e. in positron emission tomography (PET) and/or in radionuclide therapy (Chakra varty et al, 2016; Laura et al, 2013). The 64Zn(n,p)64Cu reaction needs fast neutrons to take place, which are available in irradiation fa cilities situated in the core of nuclear reactors (McCarthy et al, 1997). In those facilities often only small volumes can be irradiated, making this production less likely to meet regular clinical demands (Chakravarty et al, 2016).
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