A preliminary study for the production of high specific activity radionuclides for nuclear medicine obtained with the isotope separation on line technique

Radiopharmaceuticals represent a fundamental tool for nuclear medicine procedures, both for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. The present work aims to explore the Isotope Separation On-Line (ISOL) technique for the production of carrier-free radionuclides for nuclear medicine at SPES, a nuclear physics facility under construction at INFN-LNL. Stable ion beams of strontium, yttrium and iodine were produced using the SPES test bench (Front-End) to simulate the production of 89Sr, 90Y, 125I and 131I and collected with good efficiency on suitable targets. •The use of ISOL method for radionuclides production is proposed.•ISOL method allows to produce carrier-free radionuclides for nuclear medicine.•Tests with stable ion beams were produced as a proof of concept.•Sodium Chloride is suitable as material for targets for Sr and Y beams.•Activated Carbon can be compacted with PVA to have a solid target for I2 beams.