Preparation of carrier-free 47Sc by the 48Ti (γ,p) reaction

In order to prepare a source of high-purity 47Sc for radiopharmaceutical applications, the preparation of carrier-free 47Sc from a isotopically enriched 48Ti target irradiated with high-energy bremsstrahlung was investigated. First, the production rate of 47Sc by the 48Ti(γ,p) or 51V(γ,α) reaction and contaminations by the other photonuclear reactions were determined as functions of the maximum energy of bremsstrahlung up to 60 MeV. Then, the chemical separation of carrier-free 47Sc and the recovery of the isotopically enriched 48Ti target were studied in detail. As a result, the production rate of 47Sc by the 48Ti(γ,p) reaction at an electron energy of 60 MeV was found to be 293 μCi/Coulomb in the integrated electron beam current for 100 mg of 48TiO2. (author)