Electrochemical method for producing radionuclide Lu-177 with high specific activity

Abstract

A modified method for the isolation of radionuclide ¹⁷⁷Lu obtained from a Yb-176 target irradiated with thermal neutrons is proposed. The method consists of the combination of two electrochemical processes— cementation of ytterbium acetate–chloride solution to sodium amalgam and subsequent electrolysis of the ytterbium solution in a separate electrolytic cell without adjusting the solution. The electrochemical setup consisting of two cells gives the purification factor of ¹⁷⁷Lu from ytterbium at a level of 10⁵–10⁶, which allows using ¹⁷⁷Lu of such quality for labeling bioorganic molecules.