A METHOD FOR THE GENERATION OF SCANDIUM-44
20230420153 ยท 2023-12-28
Inventors
Cpc classification
International classification
Abstract
A method for generating .sup.44Sc from a target solution, includes the following steps: a step of solid-liquid extraction comprising (a) the precipitation of a target solution comprising metal species with fluoride ions, the target solution comprising at least .sup.44Sc, .sup.44Ti, and .sup.46Sc and other metal impurities, whereby a solution comprising a precipitate made essentially of .sup.46Sc is obtained, and (b) the filtration of the resulting solution and the recovering of the resulting filtrate comprising essentially .sup.44Sc and .sup.44Ti; a step of solid-phase extraction chromatography comprising (c) the loading of the filtrate obtained by the previous step onto a preconditioned hydroxamate column, and (d) the elution of a hydrochloric acid solution through the preconditioned hydroxamate column, and a step of recovering .sup.44Sc from the elution of the previous step.
Claims
1. A method for generating 44Sc from a target solution, comprising the following steps: a step of solid-liquid extraction comprising: (a) the precipitation of a target solution comprising metal species with fluoride ions, said target solution comprising at least 44Sc, 44Ti, and 46Sc and other metal impurities, wherein the amount of Sc is from 10,000 to 15 000 ppm in relation to the total weight of said target solution, the amount of Ti is from 5 to 10 ppm in relation to the total weight of said target solution, and the amount of each metal impurity is from 200 to 300 ppm in relation to the total volume of said target solution, whereby a solution comprising a precipitate made essentially of 46Sc is obtained, (b) the filtration of the resulting solution and the recovering of the resulting filtrate comprising essentially 44Sc and 44Ti; a step of solid-phase extraction chromatography comprising: (c) the loading of the filtrate obtained by the previous step onto a preconditioned hydroxamate column, wherein said preconditioned hydroxamate column is obtained from the treatment of a hydroxamate column with a strong acid and rinsing with water, and (d) the elution of a hydrochloric acid solution through the preconditioned hydroxamate column, whereby 44Ti is adsorbed onto said column, and a step of recovering 44Sc from the elution of the previous step.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the precipitation step (a) is carried out at an acid pH of less than 6.
3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein, for the precipitation step (a), the ratio between the concentration of all metal species and the concentration of fluoride ions is from 1:5 to 1:20, and preferably from 1:15 to 1:20.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the precipitation step (a) is carried out for at least 24 hours at room temperature.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the precipitation step (a) is carried out with a NaF solution.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the mass of the preconditioned hydroxamate column is comprised from 200 mg to 2 g.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the preconditioned hydroxamate column is obtained from the elution of a hydroxamate column with a hydrochloric acid solution at a concentration from 1M to followed by a rinsing with water and a further elution with a volume V1 from 20 mL to 100 mL of a hydrochloric acid solution at a concentration from 0.1M to 3M.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the elution step (d) is carried out with a hydrochloric acid solution at a concentration from 1M to 5M with a volume V2 from 2 mL to 25 mL.
Description
EXAMPLES
[0054] Materials and Methods
[0055] Chemical Reagents
[0056] Nitric and hydrochloric acid were received as ultrapure solutions (SCP Science). Citric acid was purchased from Sigma Aldrich (Saint-Louis, USA). All dilutions were made in Ultrapure water (Millipore, 18.2 M.Math.cm). NaF was purchased from Baker Chemical Co (99.7% purity, Phillipsburg, NJ, USA) and was diluted in HCl 6M. Whatman syringe filters in polypropylene (PP) with a cut-off at 0.2 m, connected to the corresponding 1 mL syringe were used as received.
[0057] The ZR resin (hydroxamate groups) provided by Triskem (France) was first eluted with HCl 2M and rinsed with pure water. Then, it was eluted with 20 mL of HCl 0.1 mol.Math.L.sup.1 to remove all potential metal impurities. Resins were loaded into Pierce Centrifuge column of 5 mL from ThermoFisher (USA). Commercially available 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA, Macrocyclics Inc.) was used as received.
[0058] Tartlet Design, Irradiation and Dissolution
[0059] Scandium spattering target disk (dxh=2.3750.196 inches i.e. 6.0325 cm4.9784 mm, m=43.3 g) was purchased from American Elements (Los Angeles, Ca, USA). For irradiation the disk was isolated in the Inconel can with 0.012 inch (0.3048 mm) windows, laser welded under Helium atmosphere. The target was irradiated at BLIP facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory for 10.4 days at average current 131.5 A. The energy on Sc disk was calculated to be 25-26 MeV.
[0060] After irradiation the target was allowed cool off for at least 40 days and transferred to a Hot Cell for chemical processing. The target was opened by cutting out the windows and removing the scandium disk from the can. Sc disk was dissolved in an 800 ml glass beaker by adding 50 ml portions of HCl of various concentrations (4N, 6N, 12N) starting with 4N HCl. The total amount of added acid was 3.24 moles which amounted to a total volume of the resulting solution close to 400 ml. The solution was kept overnight undisturbed. The next day a small amount of fluffy residue on the bottom of the beaker was observed.
[0061] The Sc target solution was decanted into a plastic bottle. The remaining residue suspension was passed through an empty Biorad column, washed with 1N HCl and collected. All wash fractions were added to the Sc target solution and transferred to a glass beaker. The volume of the solution was reduced to 250-300 ml by evaporation. A total of 100 ml of 2N HCl was added to the solution to bring the volume back to 400 ml.
[0062] The solution was divided into two portions (200 ml and 190 ml) using graduated plastic bottles. The solutions were weighed. An aliquot was removed for gamma spectroscopy analysis. The 2 portions were processed separately.
[0063] The 200 ml portion passed through the 5 ml (1.424 g) bed volume ZR resin (Triskem, France) pretreated with a few column volumes of 2N HCl. The load was collected in 30-40 ml fractions. The column was washed with 30 mL of 2N HCl. The column was eluted with 2.5 H.sub.2O.sub.2-2NHCl solution into 3 fractions of 40 mL, 45 mL, and 20 mL respectively. All loaded, elution, and washed fractions were assayed using gamma spectroscopy by removing precise aliquot of the fraction.
[0064] The 190.4 ml portion was processed similarly except a 7 ml bed volume column was used and fraction sizes for elution were adjusted based on the results of the processing of the first 200 ml fraction.
[0065] The elutions from both processes were combined and evaporated to dryness. The residue was resuspended in 6N HCl to give a total volume of 56.7 ml. The total activity produced was roughly 873 Ci. Three aliquots were taken from this solution. A first aliquot of 1004 was taken to perform the initial ICP-OES analysis as well as the gamma spectrometry analysis. The other two aliquots were of 1 mL (corresponding to 15.4 CO were taken to assess the direct loading onto a ZR resin after precipitation.
[0066] Gamma Spectrometry
[0067] Gamma-ray spectrometry was performed by the means of an HPGe detector GEM 13180-P10 from ORTEC (Oak Ridge, TN, USA) with a relative efficiency of 10% at 1333 keV. Detector response function determination was performed using standards of radionuclides containing mixtures of .sup.241Am, .sup.109Cd, .sup.57Co, .sup.139Ce, .sup.203Hg, .sup.113Sn, .sup.137Cs, .sup.88Y and .sup.60Co traceable to NIST and supplied by Eckert and Ziegler (Atlanta, GA, USA).
[0068] Titanium-44 was measured using its gamma rays at 68 and 78 keV whereas Scandium-44 was analyzed by its gamma-ray at 1157 keV. Throughout the separation process, both elements were monitored through these gamma rays.
[0069] ICP-OES
[0070] Determination of stable contaminants are measured by the means of Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) using a Perkin Elmer Instrument. Single and multi-elements standards (about 10 ppm SCP Science) were used for the calibration of ICP-OES. Analysis were performed in triplicate and based on a 50 sec sample exposure time. Data are analyzed using WinSpec software. The following elements were monitored: Al, As, Ca, Co, Cr, Cu, Cd, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, Sb, Sc, Si, Sn, Ta, Ti, V and Zn.
[0071] Precipitation and Solid-Liquid Separation
[0072] In order to discard macro-amounts of scandium contained in the dissolved-target batch from trace amounts of titanium-44, a NaF solution at 4.7 M was added to the target solution batch. The dilution factor of the initial batch was that was shown to be sufficient to induce the precipitation reaction of Scandium and to not having a too large volume to further proceed with the loading of .sup.44Ti/.sup.44Sc generator onto resin column. In these conditions, the chances to form TiF.sub.4 precipitate are extremely low since it could be formed only in drastic conditions (T>400 C.+HF gas under high pressure).
Sc.sup.3++3F.sup.ScF.sub.3Eq.1
At equilibrium @ 20 C. K.sub.s=[Sc.sup.3+].sub.eq[F.sup.].sup.3.sub.eq=5.81.Math.10.sup.24Eq. 2
[0073] At any time t of the reaction for given experimental conditions,
Q.sub.sp=[Sc.sup.3+].sub.t[F.sup.].sub.t.sup.3Eq. 3
[0074] To lead to precipitation, Q.sub.sp>K.sub.sp (from Eq. 2 and Eq. 3).
[0075] The solution was let to reach equilibrium for 24 h and then a solid-liquid separation was performed by filtrating the resulting suspension through a centrisart filter. The filtrate was then used for dynamic separation on resin columns. The filter was rinsed with conc. HCl and this rinsing solution was then analyzed by gamma spectrometry. A 1 mL aliquot of this rinsing was taken and put in 10 mL of HNO.sub.3 (2% w/v) for ICP-OES analysis.
[0076] Dynamic Column Separations
[0077] The method that was scrutinized the direct loading onto a ZR resin of the Ti solution after solid-liquid separation.
[0078] This method was tested and optimized on low activity batches (3 Ci). After each step, fractions were analyzed by gamma spectrometry to assess the activity and the radionuclidic purity. An aliquot of 100 L of each fraction was taken to be analyzed by ICP-OES to determine the chemical purity of the eluted fractions.
[0079] Single-Step Procedure: Direct Loading on ZR Column
[0080] 220 mg of ZR resin were weighted for being conditioned as described above. The filtrate from precipitation was loaded onto the ZR column in HCl 6M. The elution has been run with 10 mL HCl 2M. The fractions were collected mL by mL and analyzed by gamma spectrometry to assess the activity and the radionuclidic purity. An aliquot of 100 L of each fraction was taken to be analyzed by ICP-OES to determine the chemical purity of the eluted fractions.
[0081] Application of the Protocol to a 10 Ci Generator
[0082] A 9.7 Ci aliquot of the initial solution was evaporated to dryness and dissolved again in 1 mL of HCl 2M. The resulting solution was then directly loaded onto a ZR column, corresponding to 1.6 g of ZR resin pre-conditioned as described above. The elution has been run with 10 mL HCl 2M. The fractions were collected mL by mL and analyzed by gamma spectrometry to assess the activity and the radionuclidic purity. An aliquot of 100 L of each fraction was taken to be analyzed by ICP-OES to determine the chemical purity of the eluted fractions.
[0083] Radiolabeling Studies
[0084] To 450 L of solution of DOTA (i.e. 10 nmol, Macrocyclics Inc.) were added 50 L (i.e. 2 nmol) of .sup.44Sc and mixed in a 2 mL screw-Cap Wheaton V-bottom vial. The solution was placed in a boiling water bath at 90 C. for 20 min and then cooled till room temperature was reached. To test the radiolabelling yield, a radio-TLC was performed by spotting 2 L onto a TLC Flex Plate (silica gel 60A, F-254, 200 m, Selecto Scientific) and eluted with a developing solution of 0.04 mol.Math.L.sup.1 aqueous NH.sub.4OAc/Methanol, 50/50 (v/v). The activity distribution on the plates was assessed by counting for 20 min on a BIOSCAN AR 2000 (BIOSCAN).
[0085] Results and Discussion
[0086] Precipitation and Solid-Liquid separation As recently highlighted by Radchenko et al. ( ), the radiochemical separation of .sup.44Ti from irradiated scandium does not require rapid chemistry due to the long half-life of .sup.44Ti (T.sub.1/2=60.0 a). On the other hand, any efficient separation strategy should diminish losses of valuable .sup.44Ti. Based on these two principles, they developed a methodology based on cationic exchange resins. But their conclusions were that both branched DGA (BDGA) and ZR (hydroxamate) resins hold promise for efficient and fast Ti/Sc separations. Since BDGA strongly sorbs scandium, it should preferably be used for .sup.44Ti fine purification in the absence of larger scandium amounts. ZR hydroxamate, on the other hand, proved to be highly suitable for the recovery of no carrier added .sup.44Ti from the bulk scandium matrices. But after 40 column bed volume elutions, with direct elution, this generator concept showed increasing levels of .sup.44Ti breakthrough, from 20 Bq to 80 Bq (a four-fold increase) 21. Optimal .sup.44Ti load activity placement could likely result in even lower breakthrough levels. Long-term performance of this prototypical system remains to be addressed.
[0087] According to the present invention, a different sequence was employed; based on precipitation first; then a solid-liquid extraction and finally cation exchange like Radchenko et al.
[0088] Before any further process, there was a need of identification and quantification of the metallic impurities that were present in the initial batch from the target dissolution. The ICP-OES analysis indicated that Sc amount was about 13 345 ppm whereas Ti concentration was about 7 ppm. The other metallic impurities that were contained in the batch are given in Table 1 together with the corresponding concentrations.
TABLE-US-00001 Element Concentration in ppm Sc 13345 Ti 7 Ta 163 Fe 58.2 Si 13.7 Mo 9.6 Pb 8.6 Al 3.8 Zn 2.9 Ca 1.8
[0089] Additionally, a gamma spectrometry analysis was performed and it was shown that activation products, namely .sup.46Sc, .sup.88Y, or .sup.88V, were present in the initial batch. Except for .sup.46Sc, the activities measured of .sup.88V and .sup.88Y were quite low in comparison to the overall activity of .sup.44Ti. Traces of .sup.51Cr, .sup.54Mn and .sup.57Co were detected but were lower than the quantification limits. Based on these results and since the chemical and radionuclidic purities were not meeting the requirements; a further refinement of the purification process was necessary. The main goal was to recover the low concentrations of .sup.44Ti when leaving apart 46 Sc in macro quantities. From literature (Gile, J. D., Garrison, W. M. and Hamilton J. G. Carrier-free Radioisotopes from Cyclotron Targets XIII. Preparation and Isolation of Sc 44, 46, 47, 48 from titanium. The Journal of Chemical Physics 18, 1685 (1950)) and Walter R. I., Preparation of carrier-free scandium and vanadium activities from titanium cyclotron targets. J. Inorg. Nucl. Chem., 6, 63-66 (1958)), carrier-free .sup.46Sc was separated in high yield from titanium by filtration of the Sc radiocolloid formed. In these papers, the Sc colloid was formed by adding ammonia to a solution of titanium peroxide complex. More recently, Bokhari et al. (Bokhari T. H., Mushtaq A., Khan I. U. Separation of no-carrier-added radioactive scandium from neutron irraditaed titanium. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem, 283, 389-393 (2010)) have prepared radioactive scandium by irradiating titanium targets, dissolving these targets in HF and then by separating the radioactive scandium from titanium fluoride on a silica gel. In the very recent review from Pyrzynska et al., it was mentioned that scandium could be stripped away by high concentrations of strong mineral acids, basic solutions or fluoride salts by forming ScF 3 precipitation. So based on all these data, the separation/purification process according to the present invention is based on the differences of solubility products. This step was not realized in the recent procedure described by Radchenko et al. The precipitation reaction was run on the initial batch by adding NaF solution. From the Handbook of Chemistry, the solubility of NaF is about at 20 C. but an oversaturated solution could be prepared. Thus, a solution of NaF at 4.7 M was prepared. The desired volume of this solution was added to the initial batch of .sup.44Ti/.sup.44Sc. The total volume added corresponded to maximum half of the initial volume of the batch, in order to limit the dilution by a factor of . In addition to this, since the pKa value of HF/F.sup. is 3.2; and since the initial batch is in the acidic pH range (<2), only F.sup. species would be present in solution. For Ti species, especially if a TiF.sub.4 precipitate must be considered, drastic conditions are required to form it (i.e. T>400 C., within HF gaz flow and high pressures). Chances to form this complex in the experimental conditions chosen (i.e. RT and atmospheric pressure) are very low since these drastic conditions could not be reached in the experimental conditions of the present work. In these conditions, we are quite sure to discriminate Ti from Sc. Preliminary experiments have shown that the optimum conditions for the precipitation reaction were reached for F.sup. to metal ratio >10:1 (best conditions obtained for 12:1 ratio) and in acidic conditions (pH<2). It should be noticed that NH.sub.4OH could be added, leading to the formation of bigger amounts of precipitate, but it would correspond mostly to TiO.sub.2 form instead of Ti(III). The solution was left at RT for 24 hrs to reach equilibrium. It was shown that this time was sufficient to reach the equilibrium. As a result, the equilibrated solution was filtrated through a 0.2 m PP Whatman filter. An aliquot of 1004 of the filtrate, completed to 1 mL with HNO.sub.3 1%, was analyzed by gamma spectrometry showing that only .sup.44Ti and .sup.44Sc were present in solution (due to the decay). The filter itself was also analyzed by gamma spectrometry, even if this geometry was not calibrated on the gamma spectrometer. This measurement brought a qualitative information, notably, the filter contained only .sup.46Sc and .sup.44Sc with regards to other radionuclides (i.e. no .sup.44Ti was detected). The same sample was completed to 5 mL with the addition of HNO.sub.3 1% and was analyzed by ICP-OES to measure the stable metallic impurities contained in the solution. It was shown that Fe, Zn, Ca and Ta were the main impurities remaining in the filtrate after the precipitation/filtration.
[0090] In order to reach high volumic and high molar activities, to meet radiopharmaceutical use requirements, the method of the invention was thus envisaged for a fine refinement of the filtrate and the loading of the generator.
[0091] Dynamic Column Separations
[0092] 1. Determination of the Most Suitable Protocol
[0093] Method #1: 2-Steps Procedure: i) Purification on DGA Column and ii) Loading on ZR Column
[0094] In the procedure described here, it was decided to first proceed with a further purification of the sample before loading .sup.44Ti to establish a generator. This purification is based on the procedure described by Alliot et al. (Huclier-Markai S, Sabatie A, Ribet S, Kubicek V, Paris M, Vidaud C et al. Chemical and biological evaluation of scandium(III)-polyaminocarboxylate complexes as potential PET agents and radiopharmaceuticals. Radiochim Acta; 99:653 (2011)) for the production of .sup.44Sc from a cyclotron. DGA has been used in several works dealing with scandium isotopes purification process. To this aim, a DGA column was set-up. To remind, 200 mg of DGA resin (Triskem) was weighted and pre-conditioned with NaOH 1M, rinsed with water and finally reconditioned with HCl 2M. The .sup.44Ti/.sup.44Sc filtrate solution from the precipitation reaction was eluted through a column. The fraction were collected mL by mL by eluting first with HCl solution at 10M (up to 17 mL) and then with HCl 2M. To monitor the radionuclidic purity, a gamma spectrometry analysis was performed on each the fraction collected (mL). The very first 2 mL were discarded after ensuring that no radionuclide were present. .sup.44Ti was fully recovered in fraction 3 to 17 using HCl 10M solution. The gamma spectrometry analysis showed that no .sup.46Sc, neither other radionuclidic impurities were present in these eluted fractions. Only .sup.44Ti was present in these fractions, or depending on the analysis time, its decay product .sup.44Sc was also present. Fractions 1, 2 and 17 were analyzed by ICP-OES in order to monitor the chemical purity. It was shown that only Na was present, all the other metallic impurities were lower than the detection level. From Horwitz et al. (Dr. E. Philip Horwitz, Daniel R. McAlister & Anil H. Thakkar (2008) Synergistic Enhancement of the Extraction of Trivalent Lanthanides and Actinides by Tetra-(n-Octyl)Diglycolamide from Chloride Media, Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange, 26:1, 12-24, DOI: 10.1080/07366290701779423), the elution of other chemical impurities (i.e. Al, Fe, . . . ) could be proceed then by using HCl 2M while Ti remained on the column. Elution was performed in these conditions up to 50 mL. Fractions were analyzed by gamma spectrometry showing the absence of any radionuclide. The chemical analysis showed neither the presence of stable metallic impurities. The overall chemical purity after the DGA column was thus excellent.
[0095] To established a .sup.44Ti/.sup.44Sc generator, as initially described by Rsch (Pruszyski M, Loktionova N, Filosofov D, Roesch F. Post-elution processing of .sup.44Ti/.sup.44Sc generator derived .sup.44Sc for clinical application. Appl Radiat Isot; 68:1636 (2010)), .sup.44Ti must be adsorbed on a resin. In the original work, a cationic exchanger AG50WX8 resin was used. The same idea was developed by Radchenko et al. but these authors used an alternative approach using hydroxamate based ZR resin 6. Since the equilibrium distribution coefficients of Ti and Sc were described in these papers, the same approach was employed in the second step of this work.
[0096] A fraction of 3.1 Ci from the DGA elution was taken and loaded on 220 mg of ZR resin, pre-conditioned with HCl 2M. The elution of .sup.44Sc was then performed by using a solution of HCl at 2M. The very first 2 mL were discarded after ensuring that there were no radionuclide contained in these fractions. The elution was continued with another 10 mL of HCl 2M, collecting the fractions mL by mL. Fractions were analyzed by gamma spectrometry. No .sup.44Ti breakthrough was observed.
[0097] 100% of the loaded activity (measured with .sup.44Sc) was recovered right away for the first elution and was the same after 24 hrs. No additional metallic impurities neither radionuclidic impurities were evidenced in eluted fractions after 24 hrs. The resulting molar activity was estimated to be 0.15 Ci/nmol=5.3 kBq/nmol. This was due to the low amount of radioactivity loaded on the column. This results leads the inventors to envisage the Method #2 (corresponding to the method according to the invention).
[0098] Method #2: single-step procedure: direct loading on ZR column.
[0099] After the precipitation/filtration, an aliquot of 3.5 Ci was directly loaded onto a preconditioned ZR resin, based on the result from Method #1. Radionuclidic purity of this aliquot was quite good containing 44Ti, .sup.44Sc and few traces of .sup.88V and .sup.88Y. In the filtrate before loading, ICP-OES analysis indicated that Fe, Mo, Si, (Zr) and Ta were the major impurities contained, and Al, Ca, Cu, Ni, Zn were present in lower concentrations. The elution was then performed by HCl 2M. Some .sup.44Ti was eluted in the very first 2 mL corresponding to 2.8% of the initial activity loaded; but after 24 h, no more 44Ti was released from the column. All .sup.44Sc was eluted within 10 mL of HCl 2M representing 97% of the initial activity loaded in .sup.44Ti. After 24 h, another elution was run indicating the same percentage of elution with no .sup.44Ti present in any fraction. Nonetheless, it could be noticed that 75% of the initial activity loaded was recovered in 4 mL (about 2.6 Ci). The resulting volume activity was 0.64 Ci/mL. In the eluted fraction, it was shown that no other metallic impurities were present in the eluate (concentrations lower than the detection limits). The resulting molar activity will be estimated with the radiolabeling studies.
[0100] 2. Application to a 10 Ci Generator
[0101] It was decided thus to gather fractions 3 to 17 from HCl 10M elution on DGA column to get approximately 10 Ci. These fractions were evaporated to dryness by the means of an epiradiator and redissolved in 500 L of HCl 1M. The total activity was 9.7 Ci. These 9.7 Ci were loaded on 1.5 g of ZR resin, pre-conditioned with HCl 2M. The elution of .sup.44Sc was then performed by using a solution of HCl at 2M. The very first 3 mL were discarded after ensuring that there were no radionuclide contained in these fractions. The elution was pursued with another 12 mL of HCl 2M, collecting the fractions mL by mL. Fractions were analyzed by gamma spectrometry. The .sup.44Ti breakthrough was approx.0.2% of the total activity in all fractions cumulated.
[0102] 65% of the loaded activity (measured with .sup.44Sc) was recovered right away from the first elution and was shown to be higher than 95% after 24 hrs.
[0103] Fe, Al, Zn metallic impurities were eluted directly in the first elution from ZR-resin loaded generator. No additional metallic impurities neither radionuclidic impurities were evidenced in eluted fractions after 24 hrs. The resulting molar activity was estimated to be 75.2 Ci/nmol=2.8 MBq/nmol.
[0104] Radiolabeling Studies
[0105] The set-up of a .sup.44Ti/.sup.44Sc generator loaded on a ZR resin according to the invention was done allowing direct radiolabeling with DOTA ligand. The chelating ligand DOTA binds to transition and rare earth metal ions with a high stability under physiological conditions, leading to its use in vivo. The overall percentage of radiolabelled DOTA was found to be 90% for a 1:1 Sc:L molar ratio whereas it was 98% for a Sc:L molar ratio of 1:2. Even if these data are very well known, they were important to get an access to the specific activity of the resulting generator loaded. From the 9.7 Ci generator, this specific activity calculated was 54 Ci/nmol=2 MBq/nmol. This specific activity was higher than the one determined on the established .sup.44Ti/.sup.44Sc generator from Resch for which it was estimated to be about 0.2 MBq/nmol. In comparison to other sources of .sup.44Sc, notably from a cyclotron production, this specific activity was lower than the one determined on 44111/44 SC for which it was shown a specific activity f 37 MBq/nmol.
[0106] In conclusion, the present invention concerns the production of a substantial quantity of .sup.44Ti by proton irradiation of scandium targets at BNL proton accelerator plants and for the production of .sup.44Ti/.sup.44Sc generators. The PET imaging isotope .sup.44Sc can be supplied daily by a .sup.44Ti/.sup.44Sc generator. An efficient and easy method is implemented to recover Ti no-carrier-added from 13 g of Sc. This procedure comprises three steps: first, a fine separation of .sup.44Ti by precipitation with fluoride; second, a cation exchange step in HCl media for .sup.44Ti fine purification from residual Sc mass but from remaining metallic contaminants as well; and, third, cation exchange to load the generator. In summary, this method yielded a 90% of .sup.44Ti recovery. The resulting molar activity on a DOTA ligand was shown to be higher than the estimated molar activity published on the other 44Ti/.sup.44Sc generator (i.e. 2 MBq/nmol vs 0.2 MBq/nmol). This molar activity will be increased by the fact of increasing the activity since the chemical and radionuclidic purities reached in this method were good.
Comparative Example: Effect of the Conditioning of the Resin
[0107] For ZR resin, as mentioned above, tests were done with NaOH and then rinsing with water and reconditioning of the resin with HCl 2M.
[0108] However, 3 issues were noted:
[0109] Issue 1: an important amount of Si (>12 ppm) was eluted from the resin (colloids in the lungs, liver . . . )
[0110] Issue 2: The resin is getting brown when loading the generator. This is probably due to a degradation of the functional groups at the surface of the resin. It could be explained as well by the high concentration of acid used for loading the column (10M that is too much).
[0111] Issue 3: Ti and Sc are eluted together (see