Sc 44
4.0 h
β+ 1.5...
γ 1157...
Apply for this medical radionuclide

Chemical properties

Sc-44 is a rare earth, usually in trivalent state. It can be radiolabelled with macrocyclic chelators, e.g. DOTA or other chelators such as NODAGA, AAZTA, pypa, mpatcn, etc. . The ionic radius is 74.5 pm.

Nuclear properties

Sc-44 decays by β+ decay (94.27(5)%) and electron capture (5.73%) with a half-life of 4.042(25) hours to stable Ca-44. It emits a medium energy positron spectrum with 632 keV average energy and 1474 keV maximum energy.

Moreover, Sc-44 emits a hard γ-ray at 1157.0 keV (99.9%) in prompt coincidence (T1/2=2.7 ps) with every emitted positron.

The mean electron energy emitted per decay is 596 keV, the mean photon energy per decay is 2136 keV .

Production

Sc-44 is produced by proton irradiation of enriched Ca-44 oxide (or carbonate targets) at: Injector 2 at PSI  or C30 cyclotron at NCBJ. ARRONAX uses instead deuteron irradiation .

Distribution

The radiochemical separations are performed at ARRONAX (ARRONAX, Nantes, France), PSI Radiochemistry Laboratory (PSI, Villigen, Switzerland) or POLATOM (NCBJ, Otwock-Swierk, Poland). Activity will be shipped from there to the users in form of ScCl3 (or acetate) solution, ready for labelling of e.g. DOTA-compounds.

Examples of use

  • Sc-44 has been evaluated preclinically with peptides, PSMA ligands, affibodies and monoclonal antibodies .
  • Settings of commercial activity meters have been evaluated with Sc-44 .
  • The preclinical PET imaging performance of Sc-44 has been compared to other positron emitters .
  • The impact of the prompt γ-ray emission on quantification with preclinical and clinical scanners has been evaluated .
  • First-in-human applications of Sc-44-DOTATOC and Sc-44-PSMA respectively have been reported with clinical PET/CT imaging up to 23.5 h post injection .
  • Sc-44-PSMA PET/CT imaging is considered useful to evaluate maximum permissible activity in Lu-177-PSMA therapy .
  • Sc-44 is considered the prime candidate for 3γ-imaging, also called γ-PET .
  • Sc-44 is also considered the prime candidate for ortho-positronium mean lifetime imaging .

Purity grades available

research
preclinical

No carrier added (n.c.a.)

Yes
ParameterRequirements
Production routeCa-44(p,n)Sc-44 [or Ca-44(d,2n)Sc-44 at ARRONAX]
DecayDecays to stable Ca-44: 94.3% β+, 5.7% EC
Half-life4.04 h
Processing1 or 2-step column separation
Primary Container2.5 mL borosilicate glass V-vial with silicon rubber screw cap
Product Graden.c.a.
Physical FormLiquid
Chemical formIn 0.05 M HCl, 0.1 M HCl, 4.85 M NaCl/0.13 M HCl or 1 M NaOAc
Radioactive Concentration (gamma spectrometry)n.a.
AppearanceClear colourless solution
Radionuclide Identification (gamma spectrometry)1157 keV gamma line and 511 keV annihilation gamma line present
Radionuclidic purity (gamma spectrometry)99.8% at calibration time (0.2% Sc-44m)
Chemical purity (ICP-OES)
Molar activity (ICP-OES)>100 GBq/µmol at calibration time (>0.3% of theoretical maximum)
Apparent Molar ActivityLabelling up to 25 MBq/nmol DOTANOC or DOTATATE
Microbiological qualityn.a.
Bacterial endotoxinn.a.
pH (pH strips)Depends on chemical form
Additional information
Activity availableUp to 1 GBq
Activity limit for UN2910 (excepted package) shipment0.5 GBq in dry state or 50 MBq in liquid form
Other information
Full specifications

Applications

  • PET

Point of supply

  • Nantes, France
  • Villigen, Switzerland
  • Otwock-Swierk, Poland

Involved production facilities

ARRONAX, France
ARRONAX
PSI, Switzerland
PSI
NCBJ, Poland
NCBJ