Preparation and evaluation of SnO2-based 68Ge/68Ga generator made from 68Ge produced through natZn(α,xn) reaction

• 68Ge produced from a natural zinc target.
• 68Ge separated from the Zn target and the co-produced radioisotope impurities using a SnO2 chromatography column.
• SnO2 based 68Ge/68Ga generator evaluation.

68Ge was produced by natZn(α,xn)68Ge reaction and its production yield was 31.82 kBq/μA h (0.86 μCi/μA h) at the end of irradiation (EOI). A simple chromatographic method using a SnO2 column was employed to separate 68Ge from the target material and the co-produced non-isotopic radioisotope impurities. 68Ge retained in the column served as the 68Ge/68Ga generator. Elution efficiency of the column was about 60%. First 2 ml of the eluate contained more than 95% of the elutable activity. Post-elution purification cum concentration was done with a small cation exchange resin column. The presence of the inactive tin ions in the 68Ga eluate was determined by the ICP-OES technique and was found to be about 0.03 ppm. Radiochemical purity of the final 68Ga preparation was more than 99.99% and it was found to be suitable for making complex with ethylenediamine-N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis(methylene phosphonic acid) (EDTMP).