Target Development towards First Production of High-Molar- Activity 44gSc and 47Sc by Mass Separation at CERN-MEDICIS

Abstract

The radionuclides 43Sc,  44g/mSc, and 47Sc can be produced cost-effectively in sufficient yield for medical research and applications by irradiating  natTi and  natV target materials with protons. Maximizing the production yield of the therapeutic 47Sc in the highest cross section energy range of 24–70 MeV results in the co-production of long-lived, high-γ-ray-energy 46Sc and 48Sc contaminants if one does not use enriched target materials. Mass separation can be used to obtain high molar activity and isotopically pure Sc radionuclides from natural target materials; however, suitable operational conditions to obtain relevant activity released from irradiated  natTi and  natV have not yet been established at CERN-MEDICIS and ISOLDE. The objective of this work was to develop target units for the production, release, and purification of Sc radionuclides by mass separation as well as to investigate target materials for the mass separation that are compatible with high-yield Sc radionuclide production in the 9–70 MeV proton energy range. In this study, the in-target production yield obtained at MEDICIS with 1.4 GeV protons is compared with the production yield that can be reached with commercially available cyclotrons. The thick-target materials were irradiated at MEDICIS and comprised of metallic  natTi,  natV metallic foils, and  natTiC pellets. The produced radionuclides were subsequently released, ionized, and extracted from various target and ion source units and mass separated. Mono-atomic Sc laser and molecule ionization with forced-electron-beam-induced arc-discharge ion sources were investigated. Sc radionuclide production in thick  natTi and  natV targets at MEDICIS is equivalent to low- to medium-energy cyclotron-irradiated targets at medically relevant yields, furthermore benefiting from the mass separation possibility. A two-step laser resonance ionization scheme was used to obtain mono-atomic Sc ion beams. Sc radionuclide release from irradiated target units most effectively could be promoted by volatile scandium fluoride formation. Thus, isotopically pure  44g/mSc, 46Sc, and 47Sc were obtained as mono-atomic and molecular ScF 2+ ion beams and collected for the first time at CERN-MEDICIS. Among all the investigated target materials,  natTiC is the most suitable target material for Sc mass separation as molecular halide beams, due to high possible operating temperatures and sustained release.