Practicality of Tetragonal Nano-Zirconia as a Prospective Sorbent in the Preparation of 99Mo/99mTc Generator for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

The feasibility of using tetragonal nano-zirconia (t-ZrO2) as an effective sorbent for developing a 99Mo/99mTc chromatographic generator was demonstrated. The structural characteristics of the sorbent matrix were investigated by different analytical techniques such as XRD, BET surface area analysis, FT-IR, TEM etc. The material synthesized was nanocrystalline, in tetragonal phase with an average particle size of ~7 nm and a large surface area of 340 m2 g−1. The equilibrium sorption capacity of t-ZrO2 is >250 mg Mo g−1. The present study indicates that 99Mo is both strongly and selectively retained by t-ZrO2 at acidic pH and 99mTc could be readily eluted from it, using 0.9% NaCl solution. A 9.25 GBq (250 mCi) t-ZrO2 based chromatographic 99Mo/99mTc generator was developed and its performance was repeatedly evaluated for 10 days. 99mTc could be eluted with >85% yield having acceptable radionuclidic, radiochemical and chemical purity for clinical applications. The compatibility of the product in the preparation of 99mTc labeled formulations such as 99mTc-EC and 99mTc-DMSA was evaluated and found to be satisfactory.