A Solid-State Support for Separating Astatine-211 from Bismuth

Increasing access to the short-lived alpha-emitting radionuclide astatine-211 (At-211) has the potential to advance targeted alpha-therapeutic treatment of disease and to solve challenges facing the medical community. For example, there are numerous technical needs associated with advancing the use of At-211 in targeted alpha-therapy, e.g., improving At-211 chelates, developing more effective At-211 targeting, and characterizing in vivo(211)At behavior. There is an insufficient understanding of astatine chemistry to support these efforts. The chemistry of astatine is one of the least developed of all elements on the periodic table, owing to its limited supply and short half-life. Increasing access to At-211 could help address these issues and advance understanding of At-211 chemistry in general. We contribute here an extraction chromatographic processing method that simplifies At-211 production in terms of purification. It utilizes the commercially available Pre-Filter resin to rapidly (<1.5 h) isolate At-211 from irradiated bismuth targets (Bi decontamination factors >= 876 000), in reasonable yield (68-55%) and in a form that is compatible for subsequent in vivo study. We are excited about the potential of this procedure to address At-211 supply and processing/purification problems.