title: High radioactive concentration of 99mTc from a zirconium [99Mo]molybdate gel generator using an acidic alumina column for purification and concentration.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Newer applications of radiopharmaceuticals in nuclear medicine require pertechnetate of moderate to high radioactive concentration. Hence there is a need to develop simple procedures for the concentration of pertechnetate, and such a procedure is given in this paper.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten to 20 ml of sodium [Tc]pertechnetate eluted in de-ionized water from a zirconium [Mo]molybdate (ZrMo) gel column generator was passed through 2 g of an acidic alumina bed (35 x 8 mm) in order to remove the co-eluted traces of Mo and to retain the pertechnetate. The retained pertechnetate was then re-eluted, quantitatively, in 3 ml of normal saline, from the alumina column.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About a 4-fold increase in radioactive concentration of Tc was obtained (cf. approximately 10-12 ml normal saline is required for the elution of Tc from the gel column). Generators containing up to 22.2 GBq (600 mCi) Mo in 6-7 g ZrMo gel column (35 x 13 mm) were prepared and a radioactive concentration of Tc up to 4 GBq x ml (110 mCi x ml) was obtained on the first day of use. The overall recovery of Tc was >90%, Mo breakthrough was 10 to 10% and the duration of concentration was 3-5 min. The chemical impurity in terms of Al, Mo and Zr was <10 ppm each. The same procedure for the concentration of pertechnetate was applied to generators with 12-15 g ZrMo gel beds to obtain a higher capacity Tc gel generator, with similar findings.
authors.affiliation: Medical & Biological Products Programme, Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology (BRIT), BARC Vashi Complex, Navi Mumbai, 400 705, India.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Saraswathy
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arjun
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ramamoorthy
mesh_terms: D000537:Aluminum Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D002845:Chromatography / Q000379:methods*; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007553:Isotope Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D008982:Molybdenum / Q000737:chemistry*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013667:Technetium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D020100:Hydrogels; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; C044659:molybdate; D013667:Technetium; D008982:Molybdenum; D000537:Aluminum Oxide