Separation of 44Sc from Natural Calcium Carbonate Targets for Synthesis of 44Sc-DOTATATE

The rapid increase in applications of scandium isotopes in nuclear medicine requires new efficient production routes for these radioisotopes. Recently, irradiations of calcium in cyclotrons by α, deuteron, and proton beams have been used. Therefore, effective post-irradiation separation and preconcentration of the radioactive scandium from the calcium matrix are important to obtain the pure final product in a relatively small volume. Nobias resin was used as a sorbent for effective separation of 44Sc from calcium targets. Separation was performed at pH 3 using a column containing 10 mg of resin. Scandium was eluted with 100 μL of 2 mol L−1 HCl. Particular attention was paid to the reduction of calcium concentration, presence of metallic impurities, robustness and simple automation. 44Sc was separated with 94.9 ± 2.8% yield, with results in the range of 91.7–99.0%. Purity of the eluate was confirmed with ICP-OES determination of metallic impurities and >99% chelation efficiency with DOTATATE, followed by >36 h radiochemical stability of the complex. A wide range of optimal conditions and robustness to target variability and suspended matter facilitates the proposed method in automatic systems for scandium isotope separation and synthesis of scandium-labeled radiopharmaceuticals.