205Bi/206Bi cyclotron production from Pb-isotopes for absorption studies in humans

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Physics
• Radiochemistry
• Medical Isotope Production

Background:

• Radiobismuth isotopes are crucial for medical imaging and therapy.
• Efficient production methods are needed for isotopically pure radiobismuth.
• Lead and bismuth targets are common starting materials for radioisotope synthesis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To measure excitation functions for optimizing radiobismuth production from various lead isotopes.
• To investigate alternative production routes using deuteron irradiation of bismuth.
• To produce and label bismuth-205 for preclinical absorption studies.

Main Methods:

• Measured thick target excitation functions for lead-proton reactions (Pb(p, xn)) from 10-38 MeV.
• Irradiated natural bismuth (209Bi) with deuterons to study polonium isotope decay.
• Produced bismuth-205 from 206Pb at 20 MeV and assessed isotopic purity over time.

Main Results:

• Optimized production of isotopically pure radiobismuth from natPb, 206Pb, and 207Pb.
• Demonstrated efficient production of bismuth-205 from 206Pb at 20 MeV.
• Achieved high isotopic purity of bismuth-205 with minimal 206Bi contamination (2% at 4 weeks post-irradiation).

Conclusions:

• The optimized methods enable efficient production of isotopically pure radiobismuth.
• Bismuth-205 is a viable radioisotope for labeling bismuth compounds for absorption studies.
• This research supports the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals.