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Researchers report fastest purification of astatine-211 needed for targeted cancer therapy
Astatine-211 recovery from bismuth metal using a chromatography system. Unlike bismuth, astatine-211 forms chemical bonds with ketones.
In a recent study, Texas A&M University researchers have described a new process to purify astatine-211, a promising radioactive isotope for targeted cancer treatment. Unlike other elaborate purification methods, their technique can extract astatine-211 from bismuth in minutes rather than hours, which can greatly reduce the time between production and delivery to the patient.
“Astatine-211 is currently under evaluation as a cancer therapeutic in clinical trials. But the problem is that the supply chain for this element is very limited because only a few places worldwide can make it,” said Jonathan Burns, research scientist in the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s Nuclear Engineering and Science Center. “Texas A&M University is one of a handful of places in the world that can make astatine-211, and we have delineated a rapid astatine-211 separation process that increases the usable quantity of this isotope for research and therapeutic purposes.”
The researchers added that this separation method will bring Texas A&M one step closer to being able to provide astatine-211 for distribution through the Department of Energy’s Isotope Program’s National Isotope Development Center as part of the University Isotope Network.
Details on the chemical reaction to purify astatine-211 are in the journal Separation and Purification Technology.
M. Yamamoto, T. Shibata, K. Tsuzuki, M. Sato, H. Kimura, F. Okano, H. Kawashima, S. Suzuki, K. Shinohara, JFT-2M Group, K. Urata
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 2 | February 2006 | Pages 241-248
Technical Paper | JFT-2M Tokamak | dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1098
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The JFT-2M tokamak has been modified three times during the Advanced Material Tokamak EXperiment (AMTEX) program to investigate the compatibility of the low-activation ferritic steel F82H with tokamak plasmas as structural material for future reactors. The ferritic steel plates/wall were installed inside and/or outside of the vacuum vessel to reduce the ripple of the toroidal magnetic field step by step through three modifications. This paper focuses on engineering aspects of these modifications: electromagnetic analysis to find a suitable way to attach these plates, installation procedure to keep small tolerances, and a three-dimensional magnetic field measurement device used to obtain information of the actual shape of the vacuum vessel used as a standard installation surface. To maintain good surface conditions of the ferritic steel plates/wall that rust easily, careful treatment was executed before the installation. To reduce oxygen impurities further, a boronization system with trimethyl boron, which is safe and easy to operate, was developed.
