Production of Cu-61 in liquid targets

Production of Cu-61 in liquid targets

Sergio J.C. do Carmo a), Vítor H.P. Alves a), Antero J. Abrunhosa b) and Francisco Alves b,c)
a) ICNAS — Produção, University of Coimbra, Pólo das Ciências da Saúde, Azinhaga de Santa Comba; 3000-548 Coimbra; Portugal b) ICNAS – Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health; University of Coimbra; Pólo das Ciências da Saúde, Azinhaga de Santa Comba; 3000-548 Coimbra; Portugal c) IPC – Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra – Coimbra Health School; 3046-854 Coimbra; Portugal

Oral Presentation

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Radioisotopes of copper received increasing attention over the last years as emerging radiometals to label novel radiopharmaceuticals of interest for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging. In particular, 64Cu has been consensually identified and recognized due to its attractive half-life, radiation emissions and low energy positron; but also because it forms an appealing theranostic pair for targeted radiation therapy with 67Cu. However, despite such promising potential for clinical application, the use of 64Cu remains moderate, mainly because of the need of cost-prohibitive 64Ni and the complexity of the solid target irradiation process involved in its production. Following previous work concerning the production of 64Cu in liquid targets as a successful solution to avoid the latter concern regarding the irradiation of solid targets, improving thus the availability in 64Cu, this work presents the production of 61Cu in medical cyclotrons through the irradiation of natural zinc using a liquid target as a viable, fast, cost-effective alternative to the production of 64Cu. 61Cu presents a moderate and attractive half-life of 3,33 h associated to appealing decay properties to be considered as positron emitter; making it thus very attractive for labelling of PET tracers. The proposed method is very cost-effective as it avoids the use of expensive enriched material and enables a fast purification procedure since 61Cu is delivered in a much preferable chemical state, with a purified solution of 61CuCl2 obtained in about 30 min after the end of bombardment. The developed technique already enabled the production of about 2,3 GBq of 61Cu after 3h hours of irradiation, with room for improvement; thus definitively presenting 61Cu as a suitable and emerging radiometal with potential to be used for both pre-clinical and clinical PET as well as a cost-wise alternative to carried out R&D activities based on the chemistry of copper and regardless of the radionuclide of copper intended in the final solution.