Isotopes of gallium

Gallium has two stable isotopes and both are used in nuclear medicine and physics. Ga-69 is used for production of the radioisotope Ge-68. This isotope is used for so-called Ge-68/Ga-68 generators. The Ga-68 that is created from the decay of Ge-68 is used as a PET isotope. Ga-71 has been used to study the behavior of solar neutrinos and it is also used in NMR studies. Gallium isotopes can be obtained from Trace Sciences International.

Naturally occurring isotopes

This table shows information about naturally occuring isotopes, their atomic masses, their natural abundances, their nuclear spins, and their magnetic moments. Further data for radioisotopes (radioactive isotopes) of gallium are listed (including any which occur naturally) below.
Isotope Atomic mass (ma/u) Natural abundance (atom %) Nuclear spin (I) Magnetic moment (μ/μN)
69Ga 68.925580 (3) 60.108 (9) 3/2 2.01659
71Ga 70.9247005 (25) 39.892 (9) 3/2 2.56227

Isotopic abundances of Ga
In the above picture, the most intense ion is set to 100% since this corresponds best to the output from a mass spectrometer. This is not to be confused with the relative percentage isotope abundances which total 100% for all the naturally occurring isotopes.

Radiosotope data

Further data for naturally occuring isotopes of gallium are listed above. This table gives information about some radiosotopes of gallium, their masses, their half-lives, their modes of decay, their nuclear spins, and their nuclear magnetic moments.
Isotope Mass Half-life Mode of decay Nuclear spin Nuclear magnetic moment
64Ga 63.936838 2.63 m EC to 64Zn 0
65Ga 64.9394 15.2 m EC to 65Zn 3/2
66Ga 65.931592 9.5 h EC to 66Zn 0
67Ga 66.928205 3.260 d EC to 67Zn 3/2 1.8507
68Ga 67.927983 1.130 h EC to 68Zn 1 0.01175
70Ga 69.926027 21.1 m EC to 70Zn; β- to 70Ge 1
72Ga 71.926372 14.10 h β- to 72Ge 3 -0.13224
73Ga 72.92517 74.87 h β- to 73Ge 3/2
74Ga 73.92694 8.1 m β- to 74Ge 3
75Ga 74.92650 2.10 m β- to 75Ge 3/2

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References

  1. Naturally occurring isotope abundances: Commission on Atomic Weights and Isotopic Abundances report for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in Isotopic Compositions of the Elements 1989, Pure and Applied Chemistry, 1998, 70, 217. [Copyright 1998 IUPAC]
  2. For further information about radioisotopes see Jonghwa Chang's (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) Table of the Nuclides
  3. Masses, nuclear spins, and magnetic moments: I. Mills, T. Cvitas, K. Homann, N. Kallay, and K. Kuchitsu in Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, UK, 1988. [Copyright 1988 IUPAC]

NMR Properties of gallium

Common reference compound: Ga(NO3)3/D2O.

Table of NMR-active nucleus propeties of gallium
  Isotope 1 Isotope 2 Isotope 3
Isotope 69Ga 71Ga
Natural abundance /% 60.108 39.892
Spin (I) 3/2 3/2
Frequency relative to 1H = 100 (MHz) 24.001253 30.496576
Receptivity, DP, relative to 1H = 1.00 0.0419 0.0571
Receptivity, DC, relative to 13C = 1.00 239 326
Magnetogyric ratio, γ (107 rad T-1 s-1) 6.438855 8.181171
Magnetic moment, μ (μN) 2.603405 3.307871
Nuclear quadrupole moment, Q/millibarn 171(2) 107(1)
Line width factor, 1056l (m4) 0.038 0.015

References

  1. R.K. Harris in Encyclopedia of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, D.M. Granty and R.K. Harris, (eds.), vol. 5, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK, 1996. I am grateful to Professor Robin Harris (University of Durham, UK) who provided much of the NMR data, which are copyright 1996 IUPAC, adapted from his contribution contained within this reference.
  2. J. Mason in Multinuclear NMR, Plenum Press, New York, USA, 1987. Where given, data for certain radioactive nuclei are from this reference.
  3. P. Pyykkö, Mol. Phys., 2008, 106, 1965-1974.
  4. P. Pyykkö, Mol. Phys., 2001, 99, 1617-1629.
  5. P. Pyykkö, Z. Naturforsch., 1992, 47a, 189. I am grateful to Professor Pekka Pyykkö (University of Helsinki, Finland) who provided the nuclear quadrupole moment data in this and the following two references.
  6. D.R. Lide, (ed.), CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 1999-2000 : A Ready-Reference Book of Chemical and Physical Data (CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, 79th edition, 1998.
  7. P. Pyykkö, personal communication, 1998, 204, 2008, 2010.
  8. The isotopic abundances are extracted from the naturally occurring isotopes section within WebElements.

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