Production and purification of the positron emitter zinc-63

This study presents the production and purification of the positron emitting radionuclide 63Zn. A natural copper target was irradiated with 13.5 MeV protons, and 63Zn was purified by cation exchange chromatography using 0.05 N HCl-85% acetone as eluent. The production yield reached 1.41 +/- 0.19 GBq/mu A center dot h at the end of bombardment and 169 +/- 30 MBq/mu A center dot h after purification, with more than 99.9% of radionuclidic purity with copper content around 0.04 mu g/g. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.