An overview of copper radionuclides and production of 61Cu by proton irradiation of natZn at a medical cyclotron

In this article, production methods and applications of copper radionuclides are overviewed with special attention toward ⁶¹Cu, due to its interesting nuclear properties. Selection of production parameters for ⁶¹Cu including: appropriate nuclear reaction, proton beam energy, target thickness and targetry method are discussed for NRCAM 30 MeV medical cyclotron. ⁶⁴Zn(p,α)⁶¹Cu was selected as the best reaction and ⁶¹Cu was produced by 22 MeV proton bombardment of a 80 μm thick natural zinc target. After 180 μAh irradiation, the resultant activity of ⁶¹Cu was 6.006 Ci (12.015 mCi/μAh). The chemical separation method was easy, quick and efficient (>95%) and yielded a no carrier added product with high chemical and radionuclidic purity (>99%). Detailed comparison with previous production methods confirms that our results are superior to other reports published to date.