Isotopes of gallium
nuclides with atomic number of 31 but with different mass numbers
Natural gallium (31Ga) consists of a mixture of two stable isotopes: gallium-69 and gallium-71. Synthetic radioisotopes are known with atomic masses ranging from 60 to 89, along with seven nuclear isomers. Most of the isotopes with atomic mass numbers below 69 decay by electron capture and positron emission to isotopes of zinc, while most of the isotopes with masses above 71 beta decay to isotopes of germanium.
The medically important radioisotopes are gallium-67 and gallium-68, used for imaging, and further described below.
List of isotopes
Gallium-67
Gallium-67 (67Ga), the longest-lived radioactive isotope of gallium with a half-life of 3.2617 days, decays by electron capture with gamma emission to stable zinc-67. It is a radiopharmaceutical used in gallium scans (as is gallium-68). This isotope is imaged by a gamma camera.
It is usually used as the free ion, Ga3+.
Gallium-68
Gallium-68 (68Ga) is a positron emitter with a half-life of 67.84 minutes, decaying to stable zinc-68. It is used as a radiopharmaceutical, generated in situ from the electron capture of germanium-68 (half-life 271.05 days) owing to its short half-life.
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