Evaluation of 186WS2 target material for production of high specific activity 186Re via proton irradiation: separation, radiolabeling and recovery/recycling

Enriched tungsten disulfide (186WS2) was evaluated at increasing proton beam currents (20–50 μA) and times (up to 4 h) on a GE PETtrace cyclotron for production of high specific activity (HSA) 186Re. The HSA 186Re was separated from the irradiated target as [186Re][ReO4]– by a liquid–liquid extraction method and radiolabeled with a new N2S2 ligand (222-MAMA-N-ethylpropionate). The enriched 186W was recovered from the extraction process, analyzed for purity and enrichment, and converted back to the disulfide (186WS2). The results demonstrate that the 186WS2 is an easily pressed target material that can withstand relatively high currents and can be readily recovered and recycled. The 186Re produced was isolated in high specific activity and readily formed the radiotracers [186Re][ReO(222-MAMA-N-ethylpropionate)] and [186Re][Re(CO)3(OH2)3] +.

Substitution reactivity and structural variability induced by tryptamine on the biomimetic rhenium tricarbonyl complex

A series of seven fac-[Re(CO)₃(5Me-Sal-Trypt)(L)] complexes containing tryptamine on the N,O 5-methyl-salicylidene bidentate ligand backbone and where L is MeOH, Py, Imi, DMAP, PPh₃ coordinated to the 6th position have been studied, including the formation of a dinuclear Re₂ cluster. The crystallographic solid state structures show marked similarity in structural tendency, in particular the rigidity of the Re core and the hydrogen bond interactions similar to those found in protein structures. The rates of formation and stability of the complexes were evaluated by rapid time-resolved stopped-flow techniques and the methanol substitution reaction indicates the significant activation induced by the use of the N,O salicylidene bidentate ligand as manifested by the second-order rate constants for the entering nucleophiles. Both linear and limiting kinetics were observed and a systematic evaluation of the kinetics is reported clearly indicating an interchange type of intimate mechanism for the methanol substitution. The anticancer activity of compounds 1–7 was tested on HeLa cells and it was found that all compounds showed similar cytotoxicity where solubility allowed. IC₅₀-values between ca. 11 and 22 μM indicate that some cytotoxicity resides most likely on the salicylidene–tryptamine ligand. The photoluminescence of the seven complexes is similar in maximum emission wavelength with little variation despite the broad range of ligands coordinated to the 6th position on the metal centre.

The biomimetic tryptamine rhenium tricarbonyl complex shows rapid substitution reactivity on the 6th position as well as cytotoxicity and photoluminescence capability induced by the salicylidene bidentate ligand.

Scale-up of high specific activity 186gRe production using graphite-encased thick 186W targets and demonstration of an efficient target recycling process

Production of high specific activity 186gRe is of interest for development of theranostic radiopharmaceuticals. Previous studies have shown that high specific activity 186gRe can be obtained by cyclotron irradiation of enriched 186W via the 186W(d,2n)186gRe reaction, but most irradiations were conducted at low beam currents and for short durations. In this investigation, enriched 186W metal targets were irradiated at high incident deuteron beam currents to demonstrate production rates and contaminants produced when using thick targets. Full-stopping thick targets, as determined using SRIM, were prepared by uniaxial pressing of powdered natural abundance W metal or 96.86% enriched 186W metal encased between two layers of graphite flakes for target material stabilization. An assessment of structural integrity was made on each target preparation. To assess the performance of graphite-encased thick 186W metal targets, along with the impact of encasing on the separation chemistry, targets were first irradiated using a 22 MeV deuteron beam for 10 min at 10, 20, and 27 μA, with an estimated nominal deuteron energy of 18.7 MeV on the 186W target material (after energy degradation correction from top graphite layer). Gamma-ray spectrometry was performed post EOB on all targets to assess production yields and radionuclidic byproducts. The investigation also evaluated a method to recover and recycle enriched target material from a column isolation procedure. Material composition analyses of target materials, pass-through/wash solutions and recycling process isolates were conducted with SEM, FTIR, XRD, EDS and ICP-MS spectrometry. To demonstrate scaled-up production, a graphite-encased 186W target made from recycled 186W was irradiated for ~2 h with 18.7 MeV deuterons at a beam current of 27 μA to provide 0.90 GBq (24.3 mCi) of 186gRe, decay-corrected to the end of bombardment. ICP-MS analysis of the isolated 186gRe solution provided data that indicated the specific activity of 186gRe in this scaled-up production run was 2.6±0.5 GBq/μg (70±10 Ci/mg).