The unique properties of the 119Sb isotope, primarily associated with its versatile Auger and conversion electron emission, provide a high potential for use in personalized therapy of human disease. It is the short range of the electrons generated from the 119Sb decay that are attractive, in comparison to higher energy electronic emissions from other radiotheraputic isotopes, which can cause systemic toxicity even if appropriately targeted. In this work, 119(m+g)Te is created through a (p,xn) irradiation of natSb at the low energy “C-slot” of the Isotope Production Facility at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. The separation occurs through the use of extraction based and ion exchange resins to yield a pure Te fraction, which contains no carrier added Sb, that is used to generate 119Sb. To get to a stage where 119Sb can be eluted off without the carrier added Sb, the separation requires multiple steps, starting with an initial separation of the Sb mass from the produced Te, and several cleanup steps to further remove Sb mass and remove organics from the Te product. A successful separation of Te from Sb tracers and 30 g of Sb mass has been completed, where the Sb mass and radiotracers were successfully removed from Te through the use of various chromatographic resins. In addition to the benchtop separation, this process has also been completed with an irradiated Sb target, and the separation carried out inside of a hot cell at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This project has demonstrated a separation scheme for the removal of bulk Sb from Te radioisotopes for the creation of a 119Sb generator from the decay of 119(m+g)Te. A 119Sb generator will allow for the testing of chelators to the 119Sb and help to determine optimal ligand for radiotherapeutic use, and allow another potential candidate for Auger electron radiotherapy to be explored. LA-UR-17-25810

Auger-emitting 119Te/119Sb production for radiotherapy

255th National Meeting (2018)

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