Photonuclear Alchemy: Obtaining Medical Isotopes of Gold from Mercury Irradiated on Electron Accelerators

Andrey G Kazakov; Julia S Babenya; Taisya Y Ekatova; Sergey S Belyshev; Vadim V Khankin; Omar Albaghdadi; Alexander A Kuznetsov; Illarion I Dovhyi; Nikolay A Bezhin; Ivan G Tananaev

doi:10.3390/molecules27175532

Photonuclear Alchemy: Obtaining Medical Isotopes of Gold from Mercury Irradiated on Electron Accelerators

Molecules. 2022 Aug 28;27(17):5532. doi: 10.3390/molecules27175532.

Authors

Andrey G Kazakov¹, Julia S Babenya¹, Taisya Y Ekatova¹, Sergey S Belyshev^{2

3}, Vadim V Khankin³, Omar Albaghdadi², Alexander A Kuznetsov^{2

3}, Illarion I Dovhyi⁴, Nikolay A Bezhin^{4

5}, Ivan G Tananaev^{1

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Radiochemistry Laboratory, Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GEOKHI RAS), Kosygin St., 19, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
² Department of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), Leninskie Gory, 1, Bld. 2, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
³ Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lomonosov MSU, Leninskie Gory, 1, Bld.2, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
⁴ Department of Marine Biogeochemistry, Marine Hydrophysical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kapitanskaya Str., 2, 299011 Sevastopol, Russia.
⁵ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sevastopol State University (SSU), Universitetskaya Str., 33, 299053 Sevastopol, Russia.
⁶ Department of Nuclear Technology, Far Eastern Federal University, Sukhanov Str., 8, 690091 Vladivostok, Russia.

Abstract

In our work, the photonuclear production of ^198,199Au isotopes for nuclear medicine purposes was studied, and a method for their recovery from irradiated mercury was developed. The yields of the corresponding nuclear reactions were determined, and a comparison of various methods of obtaining gold radioisotopes was provided. New sorbents based on benzo-15-crown-5, which selectively binds gold, were studied, and the optimal conditions for Au recovery with a high degree of purification from mercury were found. It was established that, for the fast and quantitative recovery of Au isotopes, it was necessary to add at least 0.1 mg of the carrier. As a result, the developed method can be regularly used to obtain ^198,199Au for the research of radiopharmaceuticals based on them.

Keywords: 198Au; 199Au; benzo-15-crown-5; extraction chromatography; nuclear medicine; photonuclear reactions; sorbents.

MeSH terms

Alchemy*
Electrons
Gold
Isotopes
Mercury*

Substances

Isotopes
Gold
Mercury

Abstract

MeSH terms

Substances

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