High-throughput radio-TLC analysis

Area of Science:

• Radiochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Nuclear Medicine

Background:

• Radio-thin layer chromatography (radio-TLC) is a standard technique for assessing radiopharmaceutical purity and optimizing radiosynthesis.
• Conventional radio-TLC is time-consuming, especially for analyzing numerous samples during reaction optimization.
• Cerenkov luminescence imaging (CLI) has shown potential for reading radio-TLC plates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a high-throughput method for radio-TLC analysis using Cerenkov luminescence imaging (CLI).
• To demonstrate the application of this method for analyzing multiple radiopharmaceutical samples simultaneously.
• To significantly reduce the overall analysis time compared to conventional radio-TLC methods.

Main Methods:

• Parallel development of multiple radioactive samples on a single TLC plate.
• Simultaneous readout of separated samples using Cerenkov luminescence imaging (CLI).
• Image processing using custom MATLAB software to quantify radioactive regions of interest (ROIs).

Main Results:

• Reduced total analysis time for eight samples from 48 minutes (conventional) to 7.5 minutes (CLI-based).
• Enhanced separation resolution with CLI allowed detection of a low-abundance side product in [18F]FET samples, missed by conventional radio-TLC scanners.
• Achieved high labeling efficiency (99%) for [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 in 10 minutes, compared to the typical 30 minutes.

Conclusions:

• Cerenkov luminescence imaging combined with parallel TLC development offers a practical and rapid approach for high-throughput radio-TLC analysis.
• This method significantly accelerates radiopharmaceutical purity assessment and reaction optimization processes.
• The enhanced resolution and speed of CLI-based radio-TLC improve analytical capabilities in radiochemistry.