68Ge/68Ga generator
A 68 Ge/ 68 Ga generator for a continuous production of a 68 Ga daughter nuclide, wherein the 68 Ge parent nuclide thereof is specifically adsorbed to an inorganic support material and wherein said 68 Ge parent nuclide continuously decays to 68 Ga by electron capture at a half-life of 270.82 d, wherein the inorganic support material is at least one oxide of a metal being selected from the group consisting of: Vanadium, Niobium and Tantalum. The use of at least one oxide of a metal being selected from the group consisting of: Vanadium, Niobium and Tantalum as an inorganic support material for the manufacture of a 68 Ge/ 68 Ga generator for pharmaceutical purposes. With the inorganic support material of the present invention, it is possible to load 68 Ge/ 68 Ga generators with up to 8000 MBq of 68 Ge (corresponding to 80 μg Germanium).
1. A 68 Ge/ 68 Ga generator for a continuous production of a 68 Ga daughter nuclide, wherein the 68 Ge parent nuclide thereof is specifically adsorbed to an inorganic support material and wherein said 68 Ge parent nuclide continuously decays to 68 Ga by electron capture at a half-life of 270.82 d,
characterized in that
the inorganic support material is at least one oxide particle size of 15 μm to 300 μm of a metal being Tantalum.
2. The generator according to claim 1 , characterized in that the oxide is an oxide having the general formula (1):
M 2 O 5 (1),
wherein M is Tantalum.
3. The generator according to claim 1 , characterized in that the oxide is tantalum pentaoxide (Ta 2 O 5 ).
4. The generator according to claim 3 , characterized in that said Ta 2 O 5 is present in its alpha- and/or beta-crystalline form.
5. The generator according to claim 1 , characterized in that the oxide is obtainable by annealing a metal powder under oxygen atmosphere.
6. The generator according to claim 5 , characterized in that the resulting oxide is Ta 2 O 5 .
7. The generator according to claim 1 , characterized in that the 68 Ge parent nuclide is adsorbed to the oxide support material in form of 68 Ge(IV) cations.
8. The generator according to claim 1 , characterized in that the 68 Ga is eluted from the generator with 0.01 to 0.1 M HCl.
9. The generator according to claim 8 , characterized in that the breakthrough of 68 Ge is <10 −5 %, at an initial activity of 4000 MBq.
10. The generator according to claim 8 , characterized in that the elution yield of 68 Ga is >70% at an initial activity of 3000 MBq.