A method of treating an adsorbent for a chromatographic separation. The method involves sonicating particles of an inorganic metal oxide having fragile edges in the absence of any alkylating or acylating agent to form smoothened particles of the inorganic metal oxide and washing the smoothened particles of the inorganic metal oxide to remove fine particulate matter to produce a treated adsorbent. The treated adsorbent can be used in a method of isolating a daughter radioisotope from a daughter radioisotope that is produced from the parent radioisotope by radioactive decay.

Target assembly for an isotope production system. The target assembly includes a target body having a production chamber and a beam cavity that is adjacent to the production chamber. The production chamber is configured to hold a target material. The beam cavity opens to an exterior of the target body and is configured to receive a particle beam that is incident on the production chamber. The target assembly also includes a target sheet positioned to separate the beam cavity and the production chamber. The target sheet has a side that is exposed to the production chamber such that the target sheet is in contact with the target material during isotope production. The target sheet includes graphene.

Methods for rapid isolation of radionuclides (e.g., .sup.68Ga) produced using a cyclotron and methods for recycling of the parent isotope (e.g., .sup.68Zn) are disclosed. In one version of the method, a solution including a radionuclide (e.g., .sup.68Ga) is created from a target including cations (e.g., .sup.68Zn). The solution including the radionuclide is passed through a first column including a sorbent comprising a hydroxamate resin to adsorb the radionuclide on the sorbent, and the radionuclide is eluted off the sorbent. The cations (e.g., .sup.68Zn) are recovered from a recovery solution that has passed through the first column by passing the recovery solution through a second column including a second sorbent comprising a cation exchange resin.

A method for enhancing radionuclide activity of a daughter radionuclide-containing eluate obtained from a mixture of mother/daughter radionuclides is disclosed. This method comprises i) contacting separation particles with an aqueous solution containing a mixture of mother and daughter radionuclides wherein daughter radionuclides bind to separation particles and mother radionuclides does not. That contact is maintained ii) for a time for unbound daughter radionuclide to bind to the separation particles. Unbound mother radionuclide is iii) separated from the daughter radionuclide-bound separation particles using a washing solution. Steps i) and ii) are repeated at least once iv). The bound daughter radionuclide is stripped v) from the separation particles using a volume of stripping solution less than that used if only steps i), ii), iii) and v) were used for each of the recited at least two separations to form an aqueous eluate having enhanced daughter radionuclide activity.

A .sup.68Ge/.sup.68Ga generator for a continuous production of a .sup.68Ga daughter nuclide, wherein the .sup.68Ge parent nuclide thereof is specifically adsorbed to an inorganic support material and wherein said .sup.68Ge parent nuclide continuously decays to .sup.68Ga by electron capture at a half-life of 270.82 d, wherein the inorganic support material is at least one oxide of a metal being selected from the group consisting of: Vanadium, Niobium and Tantalum. The use of at least one oxide of a metal being selected from the group consisting of: Vanadium, Niobium and Tantalum as an inorganic support material for the manufacture of a .sup.68Ge/.sup.68Ga generator for pharmaceutical purposes. With the inorganic support material of the present invention, it is possible to load .sup.68Ge/.sup.68Ga generators with up to 8000 MBq of .sup.68Ge (corresponding to 80 g Germanium).

The present disclosure relates to a process for purifying and concentrating .sup.68Ga isotope produced by the irradiation with an accelerated particle beam of a .sup.68Zn target in solution. The process according to the present disclosure allows for the production of pure and concentrated .sup.68Ga isotope in hydrochloric acid solution. The present disclosure also relates to a disposable cassette for performing the steps of purification and concentration of the process.

Target assembly for an isotope production system. The target assembly includes a target body having a production chamber and a beam cavity that is adjacent to the production chamber. The production chamber is configured to hold a target material. The beam cavity is configured to receive a particle beam that is incident on the production chamber. The target assembly also includes a target foil positioned to separate the beam cavity and the production chamber. The target foil has a side that is exposed to the production chamber such that the target foil is in contact with the target material during isotope production. The target foil includes a material layer having a nickel-based superalloy composition.

A method and a system for eluting a desired activity concentration of a daughter radionuclide-containing eluate obtained from a mixture of mother/daughter radionuclides is disclosed. The method comprises contacting separation particles with an aqueous solution containing a mixture of mother and daughter radionuclides wherein daughter radionuclides bind to separation particles and mother radionuclides does not. That contact is maintained for a time for unbound daughter radionuclide to bind to the separation particles. The unbound mother radionuclide is separated from the daughter radionuclide-bound separation particles using a washing solution. A first fractional amount of the bound daughter radionuclide is stripped from the separation particles using a volume of stripping solution so that an aqueous eluate solution having a desired daughter radionuclide activity is obtained. The remaining aqueous solution containing a second fractional amount of the desired daughter radionuclide still in the aqueous solution is retained.

A process for the preparation of a carrier-free Ga-68 solution from an irradiated Zn target, systems comprising components used in the process, and compositions comprising Ga-68 prepared by the process. Purification of Ga-68 is carried out by feeding an irradiation target solution comprising Zn-68, Ga-68 and solid target assembly metals into a system comprising three chromatography columns in succession.

In a system and a method for making carrier-free radioactive isotopic Gallium-68, stable enriched Zinc-68 is formed into a solid target of very high purity. The solid target of enriched Zinc-68 is exposed to a proton beam provided by irradiation in a cyclotron to change the enriched Zinc-68 into Gallium-68. After irradiation, the solid target contains high concentrations of Gallium-68 with only trace amounts of enriched Zinc-68 and isotopic Gallium-67. Gallium-68 is then further purified to remove the impurities resulting in a Gallium-68 composition with high purity and specific activity and without Germanium-68, Also provided are radiopharmaceutical agents that are labeled with the Gallium-68 compositions made by solid targeting in a cyclotron.