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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.
C. G. Kim et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 2 | February 2009 | Pages 191-195
Technical Paper | Seventh International Conference on Open Magnetic Systems for Plasma Confinement | dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A7011
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To store, retrieve, and digest vast quantities of data have been of great interest since the need of scientific and technical data are explosively increased with a remarkable growth of industry. Also, the demands of reliable and accurate data have been greatly increased. A great while ago, advanced countries have archived and distributed data which are evaluated on accuracy and reliability and authorized by government. These activities are strengthening the international competitiveness of industry. For keeping pace with advanced countries, Korean government established National Center for Standard Reference Data (NCSRD) and started to develop and distribute SRD. Especially, in semiconducting industry, physical and chemical property data of plasma are key parameter to developing semiconducting device and semiconductor production technology. With these demands of reliable and accurate data, NCSRD is developing and distributing SRD Database for physical and chemical properties of plasma for strengthen international competitiveness of industry.In this paper, it is introduced that the overall national system of standard reference data and the development and distribution of SRD for physical and chemical property of plasma.
