Isotopes of gallium

Natural gallium (Ga) consists of a mixture of two stable isotopes: gallium-69 and gallium-71. The most commercially important radioisotopes are gallium-67 and gallium-68.

Gallium-67 (half-life 3.3 days) is a gamma-emitting isotope (the gamma emitted immediately after electron-capture) which is used in standard nuclear medical imaging, in procedures usually referred to as gallium scans. It is usually used as the free ion, Ga³⁺. It is the longest-lived radioisotope of gallium.

The shorter-lived gallium-68 (half-life 68 minutes) is a positron-emitting isotope which is generated from germanium-68 in gallium-68 generators, for use in a small minority of diagnostic PET scans. For this use, it is usually attached as a tracer to a carrier molecule, which gives the resulting radiopharmaceutical a different tissue-uptake specificity from the ionic Ga-67 radioisotope normally used in standard gallium scans.

Standard atomic mass: 69.723(1) u

Table

nuclide symbol	Z(p)	N(n)	isotopic mass (u)	half-life	decay mode(s)^[1]^{[n 1]}	daughter isotope(s)^{[n 2]}	nuclear spin	representative isotopic composition (mole fraction)	range of natural variation (mole fraction)
nuclide symbol	excitation energy			half-life	decay mode(s)^[1]^{[n 1]}	daughter isotope(s)^{[n 2]}	nuclear spin	representative isotopic composition (mole fraction)	range of natural variation (mole fraction)
⁵⁶Ga	31	25	55.99491(28)#		p	⁵⁵Zn	3+#
⁵⁷Ga	31	26	56.98293(28)#		p	⁵⁶Zn	1/2-#
⁵⁸Ga	31	27	57.97425(23)#		p	⁵⁷Zn	2+#
⁵⁹Ga	31	28	58.96337(18)#		p	⁵⁸Zn	3/2-#
⁶⁰Ga	31	29	59.95706(12)#	70(10) ms	β⁺	⁶⁰Zn	(2+)
⁶¹Ga	31	30	60.94945(6)	168(3) ms	β⁺	⁶¹Zn	3/2-
⁶²Ga	31	31	61.944175(30)	116.18(4) ms	β⁺	⁶²Zn	0+
⁶³Ga	31	32	62.9392942(14)	32.4(5) s	β⁺	⁶³Zn	(3/2-)
⁶⁴Ga	31	33	63.9368387(22)	2.627(12) min	β⁺	⁶⁴Zn	0(+#)
^64mGa	42.85(8) keV			21.9(7) µs			2+
⁶⁵Ga	31	34	64.9327348(9)	15.2(2) min	β⁺	⁶⁵Zn	3/2-
⁶⁶Ga	31	35	65.931589(3)	9.49(7) h	β⁺	⁶⁶Zn	0+
⁶⁷Ga^{[n 3]}	31	36	66.9282017(14)	3.2612(6) d	EC (deexcitation gamma used clinically)	⁶⁷Zn	3/2-
⁶⁸Ga^{[n 4]}	31	37	67.9279801(16)	67.71(9) min	β⁺	⁶⁸Zn	1+
⁶⁹Ga	31	38	68.9255736(13)	Stable			3/2-	0.60108(9)
⁷⁰Ga	31	39	69.9260220(13)	21.14(3) min	β^- (99.59)	⁷⁰Ge	1+
⁷⁰Ga	31	39	69.9260220(13)	21.14(3) min	EC (0.41%)	⁷⁰Zn	1+
⁷¹Ga	31	40	70.9247013(11)	Stable			3/2-	0.39892(9)
⁷²Ga	31	41	71.9263663(11)	14.095(3) h	β^-	⁷²Ge	3-
^72mGa	119.66(5) keV			39.68(13) ms	IT	⁷²Ga	(0+)
⁷³Ga	31	42	72.9251747(18)	4.86(3) h	β^-	⁷³Ge	3/2-
⁷⁴Ga	31	43	73.926946(4)	8.12(12) min	β^-	⁷⁴Ge	(3-)
^74mGa	59.571(14) keV			9.5(10) s			(0)
⁷⁵Ga	31	44	74.9265002(26)	126(2) s	β^-	⁷⁵Ge	(3/2)-
⁷⁶Ga	31	45	75.9288276(21)	32.6(6) s	β^-	⁷⁶Ge	(2+,3+)
⁷⁷Ga	31	46	76.9291543(26)	13.2(2) s	β^-	⁷⁷Ge	(3/2-)
⁷⁸Ga	31	47	77.9316082(26)	5.09(5) s	β^-	⁷⁸Ge	(3+)
⁷⁹Ga	31	48	78.93289(11)	2.847(3) s	β^- (99.911%)	^79mGe	(3/2-)#
⁷⁹Ga	31	48	78.93289(11)	2.847(3) s	β^-, n (.089%)	⁷⁸Ge	(3/2-)#
⁸⁰Ga	31	49	79.93652(13)	1.697(11) s	β^- (99.11%)	⁸⁰Ge	(3)
⁸⁰Ga	31	49	79.93652(13)	1.697(11) s	β^-, n (.89%)	⁷⁹Ge	(3)
⁸¹Ga	31	50	80.93775(21)	1.217(5) s	β^- (88.11%)	^81mGe	(5/2-)
⁸¹Ga	31	50	80.93775(21)	1.217(5) s	β^-, n (11.89%)	⁸⁰Ge	(5/2-)
⁸²Ga	31	51	81.94299(32)#	0.599(2) s	β^- (78.5%)	⁸²Ge	(1,2,3)
⁸²Ga	31	51	81.94299(32)#	0.599(2) s	β^-, n (21.5%)	⁸¹Ge	(1,2,3)
⁸³Ga	31	52	82.94698(32)#	308(1) ms	β^- (60%)	⁸³Ge	3/2-#
⁸³Ga	31	52	82.94698(32)#	308(1) ms	β^-, n (40%)	⁸²Ge	3/2-#
⁸⁴Ga	31	53	83.95265(43)#	0.085(10) s	β^-, n (70%)	⁸³Ge
⁸⁴Ga	31	53	83.95265(43)#	0.085(10) s	β^- (30%)	⁸⁴Ge
⁸⁵Ga	31	54	84.95700(54)#	50# ms [>300 ns]			3/2-#
⁸⁶Ga	31	55	85.96312(86)#	30# ms [>300 ns]

^ Abbreviations:
EC: Electron capture
IT: Isomeric transition
^ Bold for stable isotopes, bold italics for nearly-stable isotopes (half-life longer than the age of the universe)
^ Used in medical imaging
^ Medically-useful radioisotope

Notes

Commercially available materials may have been subjected to an undisclosed or inadvertent isotopic fractionation. Substantial deviations from the given mass and composition can occur.
Values marked # are not purely derived from experimental data, but at least partly from systematic trends. Spins with weak assignment arguments are enclosed in parentheses.
Uncertainties are given in concise form in parentheses after the corresponding last digits. Uncertainty values denote one standard deviation, except isotopic composition and standard atomic mass from IUPAC which use expanded uncertainties.

References

^ http://www.nucleonica.net/unc.aspx

Isotope masses from:
- G. Audi, A. H. Wapstra, C. Thibault, J. Blachot and O. Bersillon (2003). "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay properties". Nuclear Physics A 729: 3–128. Bibcode 2003NuPhA.729....3A. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001. http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/amdc/nubase/Nubase2003.pdf.
Isotopic compositions and standard atomic masses from:
- J. R. de Laeter, J. K. Böhlke, P. De Bièvre, H. Hidaka, H. S. Peiser, K. J. R. Rosman and P. D. P. Taylor (2003). "Atomic weights of the elements. Review 2000 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry 75 (6): 683–800. doi:10.1351/pac200375060683. http://www.iupac.org/publications/pac/75/6/0683/pdf/.
- M. E. Wieser (2006). "Atomic weights of the elements 2005 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry 78 (11): 2051–2066. doi:10.1351/pac200678112051. http://iupac.org/publications/pac/78/11/2051/pdf/. Lay summary.
Half-life, spin, and isomer data selected from the following sources. See editing notes on this article's talk page.
- G. Audi, A. H. Wapstra, C. Thibault, J. Blachot and O. Bersillon (2003). "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay properties". Nuclear Physics A 729: 3–128. Bibcode 2003NuPhA.729....3A. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001. http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/amdc/nubase/Nubase2003.pdf.
- National Nuclear Data Center. "NuDat 2.1 database". Brookhaven National Laboratory. http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/nudat2/. Retrieved September 2005.
- N. E. Holden (2004). "Table of the Isotopes". In D. R. Lide. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (85th ed.). CRC Press. Section 11. ISBN 978-0849304859.

Isotopes of zinc	Isotopes of gallium	Isotopes of germanium
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