Radioisotope Generators for Nuclear Medicine Based on Fajans Adsorption on Glass Microspheres

Abstract

Several radioisotope generator systems exist in which the carrier-free daughter product would precipitate if present in macro amounts at pH levels at which the parent is soluble. Included among these are the ⁶⁸Ge/⁶⁸Ga, ⁹⁰Sr/⁹⁰Y, and ⁴⁷Ca/⁴⁷Sc pairs. In these systems, chemical separation can be achieved by Fajans adsorption of the radiocolloidal daughter products onto surfaces such as activated glass microspheres at an appropriate pH, followed by washing to remove the parent solution and desorption of the daughter crop by acid washes. Investigation of the Ge/Ga and Sr/Y systems demonstrated that this solid-phase extraction method is erratic, but can give daughter yields as high as 89% with separation factors up to ∼10000 from parent isotope. This method has the potential for producing daughter isotopes with a minimum of metal and organic impurities for labeling cells, receptor binding ligands, and antibodies for diagnostic and radiotherapeutic purposes.