Preparation of nanodiamond conjugates with scandium isotopes for use in nuclear medicine

In this work, we studied the sorption of scandium, whose isotopes 44Sc and 47Sc are studied for diagnostics and therapy in nuclear medicine, by aggregates of commercial (TAN, STP) and oxidized ND nanodiamonds (ox-STP) from aqueous solutions. The sorption capacity of the studied NDs for scandium was determined; it was shown that 100 μg of NDs is sufficient for the sorption of 1 GBq of 47Sc, which is equivalent to the activity of isotopes used in therapy. It has been shown that the supposed mechanism for the binding of Sc(III) to ND aggregates is chemisorption, and the chemical composition of the ND surface affects the sorption efficiency to a greater extent than the forms of scandium in solution. The obtained data on Sc(III) sorption are compared with the sizes of ND aggregates; it is shown that sorption under experimental conditions does not depend on the size of the aggregates. Optimal carriers of the 47Sc isotope have been found for further studies of radiopharmaceuticals based on it – TAN and ox-STP.