The sup 194 Os/ sup 194 Ir generator: Production and purification of sup 194 Os

Iridium-194 (t{sub {1/2}} = 19.15 h) decays by {beta}-particle emission (E{sub {beta}}{sup max} = 2.236 MeV) and is a potential candidate for radioimmunotherapy (1,2). An important characteristic is availability of carrier-free {sup 194}Ir from {beta}-decay of {sup 194}Os (t{sub {1/2}} = 6 y). The {sup 194}Os parent nuclei is produced in a fission nuclear reactor with double neutron capture on {sup 192}Os (41.0% natural abundance). We report here the preliminary nuclear data for production of {sup 194}OS and discuss the feasibility of producing sufficient quantities of {sup 194}Os required for the fabrication of the large-scale generators for further studies. In addition, we describe a novel gas- thermochromatographic method (GTC) for the one step conversion of metallic Os to OsO{sub 4} and subsequent separation and purification of OsO{sub 4}. 6 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.