Cyclotron Production, Separation and Quality Control of 73As

Abstract

The isotope 73As has been produced on the AIC-144 cyclotron via the natGe(p,xn)73As nuclear reaction. The high purity germanium target of natural isotopic abundance was bombarded by the internal proton beam. The target was dissolved in aqua regia, and the As isotopes were separated on the Dowex-1 ion-exchange resin. The contaminant 74As was let to decay. Traces of stable germanium in the final product were determined spectrophotometrically and by the internal tracer method. The 69Ge tracer was produced on the same cyclotron in the Zn(α,xn)69Ge reactions. The isotope 69Ge as well as its contaminants 66Ga and 67Ga, produced in Zn(α,pxn)66,67Ga reactions, were separated from Zn by solvent extraction from 7M HCl. The resultant carrier-free 73As was of high radionuclide purity and did not contain detectable traces of the target material.