Effective production of ⁶⁵Zn with a PET cyclotron

Cyclotrons dedicated to the production of PET radiopharmaceuticals for clinical use can be a resource also for research in other fields of science. In the present study we assessed the feasibility of (65)Zn production via the (65)Cu(p,n)(65)Zn reaction using a 16.5 MeV GE-PETtrace biomedical cyclotron. The radioisotope (65)Zn (t(1/2)=244.26 zd; decay mode: EC 98.3%, β(+) 1.7%) has a wide range of applications, especially in botany and agriculture; its long half life allows storage and delivery to research centers without a cyclotron on site. Natural copper foils (thickness: 100 μm; purity: >99.9%) were irradiated in a solid target station developed in our institution. The EXFOR and IAEA cross sections databases were carefully studied to optimize the irradiation setup in order to maximize the yield of the radionuclide of interest and minimize the production of isotopic impurities. We performed production runs at 20 μA for 30 min. Activity was measured using a calibrated HPGe gamma ray detector and an ionization chamber radionuclide activity meter. These measures showed the presence of two main contaminants: (63)Zn (t(1/2)=38.47 min) and (64)Cu (t(1/2)=12.7h); we produced (65)Zn with a saturation yield of (1.06 ± 0.07) GBq/μA (E(p)=12.65→10.48 MeV). The irradiated target was dissolved in 1 ml of 6N HNO(3) at the temperature of 90°C and then purified through anion exchange chromatography with BIO RAD AG 1×8 resin. The radionuclidic purity of the final solution of (65)Zn in HCl 0.005 N, expressed in activity, resulted superior to (99.921 ± 0.003) %.