Cyclotron-Based Production of (67)Cu for Radionuclide Theranostics via the (70)Zn(p,α)(67)Cu Reaction

Theranostic matched pairs of radionuclides have aroused interest during the last couple of years, and in that sense, copper is one element that has a lot to offer, and although (61)Cu and (64)Cu are slowly being established as diagnostic radionuclides for PET, the availability of the therapeutic counterpart (67)Cu plays a key role for further radiopharmaceutical development in the future. Until now, the (67)Cu shortage has not been solved; however, different production routes are being explored. This project aims at the production of no-carrier-added (67)Cu with high radionuclidic purity with a medical 30MeV compact cyclotron via the (70)Zn(p,α)(67)Cu reaction. With this purpose, proton irradiation of electrodeposited (70)Zn targets was performed followed by two-step radiochemical separation based on solid-phase extraction. Activities of up to 600MBq (67)Cu at end of bombardment, with radionuclidic purities over 99.5% and apparent molar activities of up to 80MBq/nmol, were quantified.