Separation of 103Ru from a proton irradiated thorium matrix: A potential source of Auger therapy radionuclide 103mRh

PLoS One. 2017 Dec 22;12(12):e0190308. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0190308. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Ruthenium-103 is the parent isotope of 103mRh (t1/2 56.1 min), an isotope of interest for Auger electron therapy. During the proton irradiation of thorium targets, large amounts of 103Ru are generated through proton induced fission. The development of a two part chemical separation process to isolate 103Ru in high yield and purity from a proton irradiated thorium matrix on an analytical scale is described herein. The first part employed an anion exchange column to remove cationic actinide/lanthanide impurities along with the majority of the transition metal fission products. Secondly, an extraction chromatographic column utilizing diglycolamide functional groups was used to decontaminate 103Ru from the remaining impurities. This method resulted in a final radiochemical yield of 83 ± 5% of 103Ru with a purity of 99.9%. Additionally, measured nuclear reaction cross sections for the formation of 103Ru and 106Ru via the 232Th(p,f)103,106Ru reactions are reported within.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Protons
  • Rhenium / chemistry*
  • Ruthenium Radioisotopes / isolation & purification*
  • Thorium / isolation & purification*

Substances

  • Protons
  • Ruthenium Radioisotopes
  • Ruthenium-103
  • Thorium
  • Rhenium

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the United States Department of Energy, Office of Science, Isotope Development and Production for Research and Application subprogram within Office of Nuclear Physics and the LANL LDRD program (LDRD 20160439ER) for financial support. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.