Highly selective separation of medical isotope Tc-99m from irradiated Mo-100 target using PEG-based resins

The aim of present study was to determine the efficiency of commercially available PEG-based resins for separation of Tc-99m from irradiated Mo-100 target. Stable and radioactive tracer studies demonstrated that these PEG-based resins have extreme selectivity toward ReO4- ((TcO4-)-Tc-99m) over MoO42- ions. Moreover, PEG-based resins still have 95% adsorption efficiency even after 600 kGy gamma-irradiation, suggesting the excellent irradiation stability. The adsorption rate of ReO4- and (TcO4-)-Tc-99m rapidly increased to 90% in 10 s. Subsequently, three-column chromatographic processing based on these superior resins for isolating Tc-99m was developed and examined. The separation investigation of Tc-99m medical radioisotope produced by Mo-100(p, 2n)Tc-99m reaction was successfully performed. The recovery yield and the radionuclidic purity of Tc-99m was about 90% and 99.9%, respectively. Moreover, the separation of Tc-99m from a low specific activity Mo-99 was also investigated. We are excited about the potential of this procedure with these accessible commercial availability PEG-based resins to address Tc-99m separation problems and increase access to medical nuclide Tc-99m for the general community.