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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.
K. C. Chen, A. Nikroo
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 4 | May 2006 | Pages 721-727
Technical Paper | Target Fabrication | dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1192
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The surface of vapor-deposited polyimide (PI) coating onto a mechanically agitated mandrel has always been rougher than the NIF standard. The roughness has been attributed to various sources, including defects and contamination on substrate mandrels, abraded damage from mechanical agitation, or off-stoichiometric compositions.At near-stoichiometric deposition conditions, the surface roughness is primarily due to damages from collisions. Using a plastic mesh container with a suitable opening size and synchronized gentle tapping, we have greatly improved the surface quality of 1 mm diameter 4-5 m thick polyimide shells. The plastic mesh improves the surface quality by limiting shell movements and reducing the impact force and number of collisions between the shells during coating. The surface smoothness of the as-deposited polyamic acid coating meets the NIF surface smoothness standard. Appropriate pressure and heat profiles are used to remove the mandrel and convert the thin polyamic acid coating into polyimide and preserve the surface smoothness. The AFM spheremaps, patch scans and WYKO optical interferometer measurement showed a root-mean-square smoothness ranging 3-5 nm.