99mTc may be produced from 99Mo/99mTc zirconium molybdate gel generators. These gels are part of the generator matrix and their chemical and physical characteristics directly influence the generator performances. In this work zirconium molybdate gels were synthesized under different preparation conditions and characterized by TGA, IR and INAA. Our goal was to investigate and correlate generator performance with the physical-chemical properties of the gel. The two factors studied were the molybdate solution pH and the preparation conditions of the zirconyl salt solutions. Several polymolybdate and zirconium species can be formed in solution which can inhibit or favor the zirconium molybdate gel formation or the insoluble polymolybdate-rich and zirconium oxy-hydroxide phases. The 99Mo/99mTc gel generator performance is directly correlated with gel structures. More regular network gels present lower generator performances compared to gels with more flexible random framework. The physico-chemical properties of the gels as well as their behavior as technetium-99m generators are presented and discussed.
99mTc gel generator; zirconium molybdate
