Emerging role of electrochemistry in radiochemical separation of medically important radiometals: state of the art

Electrochemical separation technology has brought a renaissance in the field of nuclear medicine towards obtaining clinical-grade radiometals for preparation of a wide variety of radiopharmaceuticals. This article is a comprehensive summary of the electrochemical processes developed for the separation of radiometals that could be used for diagnostic or therapeutic applications in nuclear medicine. For using electrochemistry as a tool for the separation of radiometals, intricate knowledge is essential to understand the basic parameters of electrochemical separation processes which include applied potential, selection of electrolyte, choice of the electrode, the temperature of the electrolyte, pH of the electrolyte and time of electrolysis. The advantages of the electrochemical separation approach over the other conventional methodologies such as solvent extraction, column chromatography, sublimation, etc., have also been discussed. The latest research and development from our laboratory on electrochemical methodologies developed for separation of ⁹⁰Y from ⁹⁰Sr, ¹⁸⁸Re from ¹⁸⁸W, ^99mTc from ⁹⁹Mo, ⁴⁷Sc from ⁴⁶Ca, ⁴⁵Ca from ⁴⁶Sc,¹⁵³Sm from ¹⁵⁴Eu, ¹⁶⁹Er from ¹⁶⁹Yb, ¹⁷⁷Lu from Yb and ^132/135La from Ba have been described. In all the cases, the final product is obtained either in a 'no-carrier-added' (NCA) form or free from inextricable impurities and thus found suitable for formulation of radiopharmaceuticals.