Cyclotron-Based Production of 67Cu for Radionuclide Theranostics via the 70Zn(p,α)67Cu Reaction
Santiago Andrés Brühlmann, Martin Walther, Martin Kreller, Falco Reissig, Hans‐Jürgen Pietzsch, Torsten Knieß, Klaus Kopka
Abstract
Theranostic matched pairs of radionuclides have aroused interest during the last couple of years, and in that sense, copper is one element that has a lot to offer, and although 61Cu and 64Cu are slowly being established as diagnostic radionuclides for PET, the availability of the therapeutic counterpart 67Cu plays a key role for further radiopharmaceutical development in the future. Until now, the 67Cu shortage has not been solved; however, different production routes are being explored. This project aims at the production of no-carrier-added 67Cu with high radionuclidic purity with a medical 30MeV compact cyclotron via the 70Zn(p,α)67Cu reaction. With this purpose, proton irradiation of electrodeposited 70Zn targets was performed followed by two-step radiochemical separation based on solid-phase extraction. Activities of up to 600MBq 67Cu at end of bombardment, with radionuclidic purities over 99.5% and apparent molar activities of up to 80MBq/nmol, were quantified.