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Large scale production of 64Cu and 67Cu via the 64Zn(n, p)64Cu and 68Zn(n, np/d)67Cu reactions using accelerator neutrons

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Abstract

Both 64Cu and 67Cu are promising radionuclides in nuclear medicine. Production yields of these radionuclides were quantified by irradiating 55.4 g of natural zinc with accelerator neutrons. Clinically suitable 64Cu and 67Cu yields were estimated by experimental based numerical simulations using 100 g of enriched 64Zn and 68Zn, respectively, and elevated neutron fluxes from 40 MeV, 2 mA deuterons. A combined thermal- and resin-separation method was developed to isolate 64Cu and 67Cu from zinc, resulting in 73% separation efficiency and 97% zinc recovery. Such methods can provide large scale production of 64Cu and 67Cu for clinical applications.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Cyclotron and Radioisotope Center (CYRIC) at Tohoku University for the accelerator operation. The authors gratefully acknowledge insightful comments made by the reviewers that helped to improve the quality of the manuscript.

Funding

The 64, 67Cu and 65Zn was supplied through Supply Platform of Short-lived Radioisotopes, supported by JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas, Grant Number 16H06278. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 16K10374, 16K05383 and 19K03903.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oarai Research Center, Chiyoda Technol Corporation, 3681 Narita-cho, Oarai-machi, Higashi-ibaraki-gun, Ibaraki, 311-1313, Japan

    Masako Kawabata, Shoji Motoishi, Akio Ohta, Arata Motomura & Yasuki Nagai

  2. Radiation Sources Production Section, Chiyoda Technol Corporation, 2-4 Shirakata, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Ibaraki, 319-1106, Japan

    Hideya Saeki

  3. Quantum Beam Science Research Directorate, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, 2-4 Shirakata, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Tokai, Ibaraki, 319-1106, Japan

    Masako Kawabata, Shoji Motoishi, Akio Ohta, Arata Motomura, Hideya Saeki, Kazuaki Tsukada, Yasuki Nagai & Kazuyuki Hashimoto

  4. Advanced Science Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 2-4 Shirakata, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Ibaraki, 319-1195, Japan

    Kazuaki Tsukada

  5. Nuclear Science and Engineering Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 2-4 Shirakata, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Ibaraki, 319-1195, Japan

    Shintaro Hashimoto & Nobuyuki Iwamoto

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  1. Masako Kawabata
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  2. Shoji Motoishi
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  3. Akio Ohta
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  9. Yasuki Nagai
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  10. Kazuyuki Hashimoto
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Correspondence to Masako Kawabata.

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Kawabata, M., Motoishi, S., Ohta, A. et al. Large scale production of 64Cu and 67Cu via the 64Zn(n, p)64Cu and 68Zn(n, np/d)67Cu reactions using accelerator neutrons. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 330, 913–922 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07987-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07987-3

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