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Positron emission tomography (PET) is a dynamic molecular imaging technique applicable to clinical research, drug development as well as clinical diagnoses. The potential for PET is derived from specificity of the radiotracers and radioligands that are synthesized to monitor the biochemical or physiological processes. Further developments will depend on an increasing availability of unique radiotracers. Iodine-124, a radionuclide that has potential for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications, possesses a half-life of 4.18 days and decays by positron emission (23.3%) and electron capture (76.7%). The preparation of this radionuclide via the 124Te(p,n)124I nuclear reaction is described as well as chemistry associated with the preparation of specific radiotracers and radiopharmaceuticals incorporating iodine-124 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
R. Finn (2001) studied this question.