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Description
Terbium-161 is one of the perspective radionuclides with a potential use in nuclear medicine thanks to its ideal energy of beta radiation (E$_\beta$$_{max}$ = 593 keV) and half-life (6,9 d). In addition, terbium-161 emits a significant amount of conversion and Auger electrons, which increases its potential therapeutic efficacy. Terbium-161 can be prepared as no carrier added by neutron irradiation of highly enriched gadolinium-160 target in a nuclear reactor, through indirect production route Gd-160 (n,$\gamma$) Gd-161 $\rightarrow$ Tb-161. After irradiation, it is necessary to separate terbium from the target. For this purpose, the cation exchange chromatography is commonly used.
In this work, several irradiations of highly enriched Gd-160 target in the form of oxide or nitrate were performed in the nuclear reactor LVR 15 (CV Řež). For separation of Tb-161 from target, cation exchange chromatography (Dowex 50W×8 (H+), 100-200 mesh) with variously concentrated $\alpha$-hydroxyisobutyric acid as eluent was used. The presence of Tb-161 and possible radionuclide impurities was verified by gamma spectrometry on an HPGe detector. The fractions containing Tb-161 were purified from $\alpha$-hydroxyisobutyric acid also on the cation exchange resin, using hydrochloric acid as eluent. The presence of stable impurities was verified by ICP-MS method.
This work was supported by the project “Efficient Low-Energy Electron Cancer Therapy with Terbium-161” granted by the Norway and Technology Agency of the Czech Republic within the KAPPA Programme (grant No.: TO01000074).
