Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

(₂₉Cu) has two stable isotopes, ⁶³Cu and ⁶⁵Cu, along with 27 radioisotopes. The most stable radioisotope is ⁶⁷Cu with a

half-life Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...

of 61.83 hours, while the least stable is ⁵⁴Cu with a half-life of approximately 75 ns. Most have half-lives under a minute. Unstable copper isotopes with atomic masses below 63 tend to undergo β⁺ decay, while isotopes with atomic masses above 65 tend to undergo β⁻ decay. ⁶⁴Cu decays by both β⁺ and β⁻. ⁶⁸Cu, ⁶⁹Cu, ⁷¹Cu, ⁷²Cu, and ⁷⁶Cu each have one

metastable isomer A nuclear isomer is a metastable state of an atomic nucleus, in which one or more nucleons (protons or neutrons) occupy higher energy levels than in the ground state of the same nucleus. "Metastable" describes nuclei whose excited states have ha ...

. ⁷⁰Cu has two isomers, making a total of 7 distinct isomers. The most stable of these is ^68mCu with a half-life of 3.75 minutes. The least stable is ^69mCu with a half-life of 360 ns.

List of isotopes

, - , ⁵²Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 23 , 51.99718(28)# , , p , ⁵¹Ni , (3+)# , , , - , ⁵³Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 24 , 52.98555(28)# , <300 ns , p , ⁵²Ni , (3/2−)# , , , - , ⁵⁴Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 25 , 53.97671(23)# , <75 ns , p , ⁵³Ni , (3+)# , , , - , rowspan=2, ⁵⁵Cu , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 29 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 26 , rowspan=2, 54.96605(32)# , rowspan=2, 40# ms 200 ns, β⁺ , ⁵⁵Ni , rowspan=2, 3/2−# , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , p , ⁵⁴Ni , - , ⁵⁶Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 27 , 55.95856(15)# , 93(3) ms , β⁺ , ⁵⁶Ni , (4+) , , , - , ⁵⁷Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 28 , 56.949211(17) , 196.3(7) ms , β⁺ , ⁵⁷Ni , 3/2− , , , - , ⁵⁸Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 29 , 57.9445385(17) , 3.204(7) s , β⁺ , ⁵⁸Ni , 1+ , , , - , ⁵⁹Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 30 , 58.9394980(8) , 81.5(5) s , β⁺ , ⁵⁹Ni , 3/2− , , , - , ⁶⁰Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 31 , 59.9373650(18) , 23.7(4) min , β⁺ , ⁶⁰Ni , 2+ , , , - , ⁶¹Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 32 , 60.9334578(11) , 3.333(5) h , β⁺ , ⁶¹Ni , 3/2− , , , - , ⁶²Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 33 , 61.932584(4) , 9.673(8) min , β⁺ , ⁶²Ni , 1+ , , , - , ⁶³Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 34 , 62.9295975(6) , colspan=3 align=center, Stable , 3/2− , 0.6915(15) , 0.68983–0.69338 , - , rowspan=2, ⁶⁴Cu , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 29 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 35 , rowspan=2, 63.9297642(6) , rowspan=2, 12.700(2) h , β⁺ (61%) , ⁶⁴Ni , rowspan=2, 1+ , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , β⁻ (39%) , ⁶⁴Zn , - , ⁶⁵Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 36 , 64.9277895(7) , colspan=3 align=center, Stable , 3/2− , 0.3085(15) , 0.30662–0.31017 , - , ⁶⁶Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 37 , 65.9288688(7) , 5.120(14) min , β⁻ , ⁶⁶Zn , 1+ , , , - , ⁶⁷Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 38 , 66.9277303(13) , 61.83(12) h , β⁻ , ⁶⁷Zn , 3/2− , , , - , ⁶⁸Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 39 , 67.9296109(17) , 31.1(15) s , β⁻ , ⁶⁸Zn , 1+ , , , - , rowspan=2 style="text-indent:1em" , ^68mCu , rowspan=2 colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 721.6(7) keV , rowspan=2, 3.75(5) min , IT (84%) , ⁶⁸Cu , rowspan=2, (6−) , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , β⁻ (16%) , ⁶⁸Zn , - , ⁶⁹Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 40 , 68.9294293(15) , 2.85(15) min , β⁻ , ⁶⁹Zn , 3/2− , , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^69mCu , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 2741.8(10) keV , 360(30) ns , , , (13/2+) , , , - , ⁷⁰Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 41 , 69.9323923(17) , 44.5(2) s , β⁻ , ⁷⁰Zn , (6−) , , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^70m1Cu , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 101.1(3) keV , 33(2) s , β⁻ , ⁷⁰Zn , (3−) , , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^70m2Cu , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 242.6(5) keV , 6.6(2) s , , , 1+ , , , - , ⁷¹Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 42 , 70.9326768(16) , 19.4(14) s , β⁻ , ⁷¹Zn , (3/2−) , , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^71mCu , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 2756(10) keV , 271(13) ns , , , (19/2−) , , , - , ⁷²Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 43 , 71.9358203(15) , 6.6(1) s , β⁻ , ⁷²Zn , (1+) , , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^72mCu , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 270(3) keV , 1.76(3) µs , , , (4−) , , , - , rowspan=2, ⁷³Cu , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 29 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 44 , rowspan=2, 72.936675(4) , rowspan=2, 4.2(3) s , β⁻ (>99.9%) , ⁷³Zn , rowspan=2, (3/2−) , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , β⁻, n (<.1%) , ⁷²Zn , - , ⁷⁴Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 45 , 73.939875(7) , 1.594(10) s , β⁻ , ⁷⁴Zn , (1+, 3+) , , , - , rowspan=2, ⁷⁵Cu , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 29 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 46 , rowspan=2, 74.94190(105) , rowspan=2, 1.224(3) s , β⁻ (96.5%) , ⁷⁵Zn , rowspan=2, (3/2−)# , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , β⁻, n (3.5%) , ⁷⁴Zn , - , rowspan=2, ⁷⁶Cu , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 29 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 47 , rowspan=2, 75.945275(7) , rowspan=2, 641(6) ms , β⁻ (97%) , ⁷⁶Zn , rowspan=2, (3, 5) , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , β⁻, n (3%) , ⁷⁵Zn , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^76mCu , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 0(200)# keV , 1.27(30) s , β⁻ , ⁷⁶Zn , (1, 3) , , , - , ⁷⁷Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 48 , 76.94785(43)# , 469(8) ms , β⁻ , ⁷⁷Zn , 3/2−# , , , - , ⁷⁸Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 49 , 77.95196(43)# , 342(11) ms , β⁻ , ⁷⁸Zn , , , , - , rowspan=2, ⁷⁹Cu , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 29 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 50 , rowspan=2, 78.95456(54)# , rowspan=2, 188(25) ms , β⁻, n (55%) , ⁷⁸Zn , rowspan=2, 3/2−# , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , β⁻ (45%) , ⁷⁹Zn , - , ⁸⁰Cu , style="text-align:right" , 29 , style="text-align:right" , 51 , 79.96087(64)# , 100# ms 300 ns, β⁻ , ⁸⁰Zn , , ,

Medical applications

Copper offers a relatively large number of

radioisotopes A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transferr ...

that are potentially suitable for use in

nuclear medicine Nuclear medicine or nucleology is a medical specialty involving the application of radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Nuclear imaging, in a sense, is "radiology done inside out" because it records radiation emitting ...

. There is a growing interest in the use of ⁶⁴Cu, ⁶²Cu, ⁶¹Cu, and ⁶⁰Cu for diagnostic purposes and ⁶⁷Cu and ⁶⁴Cu for targeted

radiotherapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radia ...

. For example, ⁶⁴Cu has a longer half-life than most positron-emitters (12.7 hours) and is thus ideal for diagnostic PET imaging of biological molecules.Harris, M. "Clarity uses a cutting-edge imaging technique to guide drug development". ''Nature Biotechnology'' September 2014: 34

References

* Isotope masses from: ** * Isotopic compositions and standard atomic masses from: ** ** * Half-life, spin, and isomer data selected from the following sources. ** ** ** * Application of Copper radioisotopes in Medicine (Review Paper): ** {{Navbox element isotopes Copper