Fast and cost-effective cyclotron production of 61 Cu using a nat Zn liquid target: an opportunity for radiopharmaceutical production and R&D.

Following our previous work on the production of radiometals, such as64 Cu and68 Ga, through the irradiation of liquid targets using a medical cyclotron, we describe in this paper a technique to produce61 Cu through the irradiation of natural zinc using a liquid target. The proposed method is very cost-effective, as it avoids the use of expensive enriched material, and is fast, as a purified solution of61 CuCl2 is obtained in less than 30 min after the end of beam. Considering its moderate half-life of 3.33 h and favourable decay properties as a positron emitter,61 Cu is a very attractive nuclide for the labelling of PET tracers for pre-clinical and clinical use with PET as well as to support the intense R&D programmes being carried out worldwide by taking advantage of the rich and versatile chemistry of copper.