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The Effect of Target-Gas Purity on the Chemical Form of F-18 during ¹⁸F-F₂ Production Using the Neon/Fluorine Target

Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York

Correspondence: For reprints contact: Alfred P. Wolf, PhD, Dept. of Chemistry, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973.

ABSTRACT

Irradiation of gas mixtures of F₂/Ne
which contained percent levels (>0.1%) of N₂, CO₂, or CF₄ resulted in the production of unacceptable levels of F-18-labeled NF₃ and CF₄ at the expense of ¹⁸F-F₂. Analytical gas chromatographic methods have been devised to determine contaminant levels in the target gas as well as in the products arising from them. Commercial mixtures of 1% F₂/Ne, pure F₂,and neon have been analyzed for contaminants (N₂, O₂, CO, CO₂, and CF₄) and found to vary widely in the levels of these impurities from batch to batch. The N₂ levels in the 1% F₂/Ne mixtures varied from 0.039 to 0.49%, and the CO₂ levels from 0.028 to 0.13%. No detectable impurities were found in the neon (Research Purity), but F₂ was found to contain 11% CF₄. Reproducibly high yields of ¹⁸F-F₂ are obtained if the levels of N₂, CO₂, and CF₄ in the final target gas mixture are <0.01% and carrier F₂ is 0.1%. Hydrocarbons and CO were not detected in our gas mixtures, but would also be expected to decrease yields of ¹⁸F-F₂.