Preparation of I-124 solutions after thermodistillation of irradiated (TeO2)-Te-124 targets

The 4.15-d radionuclide I-124 is produced via the nuclear reaction Te-124(d , 2n) I-124 by irradiation of 96% enriched (TeO2)-Te-124 with 14 MeV deuter ons, followed by thermodistillation. In order to minimise the loss of I-124 , the quartz distillation tube was fitted to a stainless steel helix capill ary trap directly behind the end of the furnace. Using this device, distill ation yields of more than 80% were routinely obtained, and the activity was concentrated in markedly less than 100 mu L solution. The I-124 produced b y this method proved to be useful for labelling proteins and IUdR. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.