Production and separation of no-carrier-added radioactive tracers of yttrium, strontium and rubidium from heavy-ion irradiated germanium target: applicability to the standardization of a separation technique for production of positron-emitting radionuclide 86Y.

Among various positron-emitting radionuclides, certain radioisotopes of Y, Sr and Rb have important applications in diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine. In the present work, an attempt has been made to produce some of those radioisotopes by irradiating a natural Ge-target material with heavy-ion oxygen ((16)O(+6)) projectiles. An effective radiochemical separation scheme was developed to isolate Y, Sr and Rb radiotracers from the irradiated Ge-matrix in no-carrier-added form with a view to applying those radiotracers for standardization of a technique for the radiochemical separation of Y from natural Sr target. The standardized separation technique could be utilized for the production of the positron-emitting (86)Y from an enriched (86)Sr target irradiated at a medical cyclotron.