Development and optimization of resin based radionuclidic generators

锝-99m （Tc-99m）是医疗保健中使用最广泛的医用同位素，全世界每天进行76,000次扫描。这些剂量中的大多数来自高浓缩铀（HEU）辐照造成的数量有限的老化反应堆。这种辐照的产物是放射性核素钼-99 (Mo-99)，它被纳入一种称为发电机的装置，供应给医疗中心，每次使用长达一周。Mo-99的衰变为Tc-99m提供了按需获取的途径，用于癌症、心血管疾病和其他几种适应症的扫描诊断。对有限来源的依赖，以及与使用高浓铀相关的安全风险，对发电机Mo-99的供应构成了潜在的挑战。钼-99可以在不使用高浓铀的情况下生产，但与样品中钼的其他同位素相比，钼-99同位素的浓度非常低。为了使发电机获得相同数量的钼-99，所需的钼量将超过现有发电机的容量。该项目描述了发现和合成用于传统Mo-99/Tc-99m发电机的新型高容量聚合物材料的工作，以允许使用较低浓度的Mo-99。合成化学方法将应用于聚合物的改性和新聚合物的创造，以提高材料选择性捕获感兴趣离子的能力。这五名学生将学习有机合成、高分子化学以及处理放射性物质所需的技能。这项研究是对加拿大政府通过NISP和ITAP项目确定Tc-99m非反应堆来源的投资的补充。该项目的研究，以及Acsion Industries开展的工作，将允许医院以他们已经熟悉的格式使用Mo-99/Tc-99m发电机，同时避免与使用高浓铀相关的安全风险。

Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) is the most widely used medical isotope in health care and accounts for >76,000 scans per day worldwide. Most of these doses come from a limited number of aging reactors from the irradiation of highly enriched uranium (HEU). The product from this irradiation is the radionuclide molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) that is incorporated into a device called a generator and supplied to medical centres for use for up to a week at a time. The decay of Mo-99 provides on demand access to Tc-99m to use in scans for the diagnosis of cancer, cardiovascular disease and several other indications.The dependence on a limited number of sources, as well as the security risks associated with the use of HEU, pose potential challenges to the supply of Mo-99 for generators. Molybdenum-99 can be produced without the use of HEU, however the concentration of the Mo-99 isotope is very low compared to other isotopes of molybdenum in the sample. In order to get the same amount of Mo-99 into the generator, the amount of molybdenum required would exceed the capacity of current generators. This project describes work to discover and synthesize new, high capacity polymer materials for use in traditional Mo-99/Tc-99m generators to allow the use of the lower concentration Mo-99. Synthetic chemistry methods will be applied to the modification of polymers and to the creation of new polymers to improve the capacity of the material to selectively capture the ions of interest. The five students trained under this program will gain knowledge of organic synthesis, polymer chemistry and the skills needed to work with radioactive materials. This research compliments the investment made by the government of Canada to identify non-reactor based sources of Tc-99m through the NISP and ITAP programs. The research from this project, along with work carried out by Acsion Industries and will allow hospitals to use Mo-99/Tc-99m generators in a format they already familiar with, while avoiding the security risks associated with the use of HEU.