Charge and nature of technetium species produced in the reduction of pertechnetate by stannous ion.

By using a cation-exchange distribution technique, the net charge of the technetium species produced in the reduction of pertechnetate by stannous ion at ph less than or equal to 2 had been determined to be + 2. The species carrying this charge is either the dihydroxy technetate (Tc(OH)2(2)+) ion or the oxotechnetate (TcO2+) ion. These species are hydrolysed to technetium dioxide dihydrate (TcO2 - 2H2O) at higher pH.The advantage of the ion-exchange distribution technique for these studies is that they can be done with carrier-free technetium rather than at the high concentrations required for the more conventional methods of ion-charge determination. The results, therefore, are more likely to be applicable to the situation existing in the routine preparation of Tc-99m radiopharmaceuticals.