Electrochemistry of pertechnetate on ultramicroelectrode: A new quality control for radiopharmaceuticals manufactured at hospital in nuclear medicine

• Platinum ultramicroelectrodes coupled to differential pulse stripping voltammetry as an alternative to conventional quality control for radiopharmaceuticals in nuclear medicine.
• Detection limits of 5 nM with fast experiments can be achieved in less than 2 min.
• Pt ultramicroelectrode has an excellent signal-to-background characteristic to study the electrochemical behavior of analytes in physiological serum such as NaTcO4 and radiopharmaceuticals.
• Setup can be used as generic to other radiopharmaceuticals having an electrochemical activity at a potential different from each others. Pt electrodes can be embedded in microsystems for fast and safe control quality monitoring.

Every day, thousands of diagnostic tests in nuclear medicine are performed on patients around the world wherein pertechnetate-based solutions are taken internally, requiring time-consuming quality controls. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of platinum ultramicroelectrodes coupled to differential pulse stripping voltammetry as an advantageous alternative to conventional quality control for radiopharmaceuticals using paper or thin-layer chromatography and gamma camera. Detection limits lower than 5 nM have been achieved during fast experiments in few minutes with ready-to-use pertechnetate-based physiological solutions. This method can be generic and transposed to other radiopharmaceuticals having an electrochemical activity at a potential different from each others.