Disposable PDMS Chip With Integrated [18F]Fluoride Pre-Concentration Cartridge for Radiopharmaceuticals

This paper presents an integrated preconcentration cartridge for [
¹⁸
F]Fluoride radiochemistry in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) disposable chip. The fabrication process for the chip is designed to allow the construction of a final device for full synthesis of [
¹⁸
F]fludeoxyglucose, one of the standard radiopharmaceuticals used in positron-emission tomography imaging. The preconcentration is the first step in that synthesis and is composed of two phases: 1) retention; and 2) elution. The experimental results show that both the retention and elution rates are close to 100% for initial activities of 500 μCi, operating pressures of 500 mbar, volumes up to 2 mL and elution with 30 μL of potassium carbonate (K
₂
CO
₃
), and cryptand solution (Kryptofix K222). These results prove that PDMS can be used for radiopharmaceutical synthesis, and its low cost allows the fabrication of disposable chips, which is very convenient in these applications.