Radiochemistry automation is becoming essential in modern laboratories working with radioactive materials. From research to clinical production, teams need to handle complex chemical reactions while ensuring safety, precision, and reproducibility. In fields like nuclear medicine and radiopharmaceutical production, workflows often involve unstable isotopes and strict timing constraints. Manual operations are not only difficult, they can also increase the risk of human error, exposure to radiation, and variability between batches.
This is why automation has become a key enabler. Automated systems make it possible to control radiochemical processes more precisely, reduce manual operations, and improve process stability across experiments and production runs. They are now widely used in applications such as PET radiochemistry, radiosynthesis, and the production of radiopharmaceuticals for imaging and therapy.
As the demand for reliable and scalable workflows continues to grow, especially in clinical and industrial environments, radiochemistry automation is becoming a key part of how modern radiopharmacy and nuclear laboratories operate.
Radiochemistry workflows are complex by nature. They combine chemical reactions, radioactive materials, and strict production constraints. Whether in research or clinical environments, several key challenges make automation not only useful, but necessary.
Radiochemistry involves radioactive isotopes that can expose operators to ionizing radiation. To protect users, processes are performed in shielded hot cells, often using telemanipulators or fully automated systems.
Because of this:
According to publications in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, automation significantly reduces human exposure and improves operational safety in radiopharmaceutical production.
Many isotopes used in nuclear medicine, such as fluorine-18, have very short half-lives. This means:
As highlighted in studies indexed on PubMed, automation helps reduce the time required for radiosynthesis and improves overall process efficiency.
Visual: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorine-18
Radiochemistry often uses strong acids and aggressive solvents, such as nitric acid or hydrochloric acid, especially in isotope production and purification steps.
This creates challenges such as:
Components must therefore be compatible with harsh chemical conditions, while maintaining performance over time. This typically requires the use of high-performance polymers such as PEEK, PTFE, PCTFE, or polyethylene, which offer strong chemical resistance and long-term stability in demanding environments.
To meet clinical standards, especially in radiopharmacy, it is critical to avoid cross-contamination between batches.
This leads to:
Automation platforms described in literature from groups like International Atomic Energy Agency emphasize the importance of closed and disposable fluidic paths to ensure safety and compliance.
Radiopharmaceutical production must meet strict regulatory requirements. This includes:
Variability in manual processes can lead to inconsistent results. Automated systems help standardize workflows and improve reproducibility, which is essential for clinical applications.
Modern radiochemistry setups combine multiple steps:
Integrating all these steps into a single automated platform is complex. It requires:
Overall, these challenges explain why radiochemistry automation is not just about convenience, but about enabling safe, reliable, and scalable workflows in environments where constraints are extreme.
Radiochemistry automation covers a wide range of applications, from radiopharmaceutical production to isotope processing and system integration. Across all these use cases, the objective is to automate complex radiochemical processes while improving safety, efficiency, and reliability.
A major part of radiochemistry automation is dedicated to the production of radiopharmaceuticals, especially for positron emission tomography (PET). These workflows are widely used in hospitals, healthcare centers, and research institutions for molecular imaging and cancer diagnostics.
Typical applications include:
These processes rely heavily on automated radiosynthesis platforms, where the full synthesis process is controlled, from isotope introduction to final formulation. This includes reagent loading, reaction control, purification, and preparation for injection.
Two key isotopes dominate this field:
Automation is essential here to ensure efficient production, reduce variability, and support reliable clinical workflows.
Beyond synthesis, radiochemistry workflows include several critical downstream steps. These are necessary to ensure that the final product meets quality and safety requirements before use in humans.
Typical operations include:
Automation helps standardize these steps and improve repeatability. It also simplifies integration with quality control processes such as radiochemical purity measurement, yield analysis, and preparation for analytical systems.
This is particularly important in clinical environments, where consistency and compliance are mandatory.
Radiochemistry automation is not limited to final drug production. It is also used upstream in radioisotope production and nuclear chemistry.
These workflows include:
In these applications, systems must handle chemically demanding environments and support precise fluid routing. Automation improves efficiency and allows better control of processes that are often difficult to manage manually.
Radiochemistry automation systems are built on different types of platforms, depending on the level of flexibility, standardization, and application needs.
A widely used approach is the cassette-based platform, where the fluidic path is integrated into a sealed and often disposable cassette. This simplifies setup, reduces contamination risks, and supports safe operation in controlled environments.
At the same time, many applications require more flexibility. This leads to the development of:
These systems often rely on compact components, standard connections, and optimized layouts to fit within constrained environments and enable efficient operation.
Radiochemistry automation also plays a key role in research and development. Laboratories working in universities, hospitals, and industry use automated systems to develop and validate new radiochemical methods.
Typical use cases include:
Automation helps improve reproducibility and supports the transition from research to clinical application, which is a major objective in radiopharmaceutical sciences.
Overall, radiochemistry automation spans multiple stages, from isotope production to final formulation and quality control. This diversity explains why flexible, reliable, and well-integrated fluidic technologies are essential across all applications. Across all these applications, one aspect remains critical: how fluids are handled and controlled.
In radiochemistry automation, fluid handling is at the core of every process. From isotope transfer to reaction, purification, and formulation, the way liquids are controlled directly impacts efficiency, safety, and final product quality. This is where microfluidic technologies bring a strong advantage.
Automated radiochemistry system integrating fluid handling, synthesis, and remote operation inside a shielded hot cell environment. Source: ETH Zurich – Radiopharmaceutical Science
One of the main benefits of microfluidics is the ability to work with very small internal volumes. In radiochemistry, this is critical because radioactive materials are often limited, expensive, and decay over time. Reducing dead volume helps minimize product loss, improve radiochemical yield, and make better use of each batch. This is especially important in PET radiochemistry, where short-lived isotopes require fast and efficient handling.
Microfluidic components also allow very precise control of flow rates and fluid routing. This improves the stability of the synthesis process and reduces variability between runs. In automated systems, this level of control supports stable reaction conditions, accurate reagent delivery, and consistent purification steps. It also supports more stable and controlled operations.
Another important aspect is system integration. Microfluidic components are compact by design, which makes them easier to integrate into confined environments such as hot cells or cassette-based platforms. Their small footprint allows more flexible system architecture, whether in standard automated synthesis modules or in custom-built setups. This is particularly useful in environments where space is limited and where remote handling or robotic operation is required.
Material compatibility is also a strong advantage. Microfluidic systems can be designed using materials that resist chemically demanding environments. This is essential in nuclear chemistry workflows, where conditions can be particularly challenging and where long-term reliability is required even under harsh conditions.
Finally, microfluidics supports the trend toward modular and disposable fluidic paths. In radiopharmaceutical production, avoiding contamination is critical, and many workflows now rely on sealed, replaceable systems. Microfluidic components can be integrated into these architectures while maintaining performance, precision, and ease of replacement.
For all these reasons, microfluidics is not just a technical detail, but a key enabler of modern radiochemistry automation, helping laboratories move toward safer, more efficient, and more reliable workflows.
Shielded hot cell used in radiochemistry to safely handle radioactive materials through remote manipulation systems. Source: Nukemed
In many radiochemistry workflows, operations take place inside shielded hot cells, where direct human access is not possible. In these environments, fluidic systems must be designed to work reliably under radiation, while remaining simple enough to be handled remotely.
A typical setup may include a compact fluidic platform mounted on a support plate or manifold. Within this system, switching between different liquid paths is required to route reagents, radioactive solutions, or cleaning fluids during the synthesis process. Because the environment is highly constrained, components must remain easy to install, replace, and operate using telemanipulators.
In this context, a simple, robust and fully automated multi-port switching component can play a key role. It allows operators to manually select different flow paths without relying on electronics inside the hot cell, which are often sensitive to radiation. Mechanical operation becomes an advantage, as it ensures robustness and reduces the risk of failure in harsh conditions.
Material selection is also critical. Components must withstand chemically demanding conditions while maintaining sealing performance and reliability over multiple cycles. At the same time, internal volume must remain low to avoid unnecessary loss of valuable radioactive material, especially when working with small liquid volumes.
Integration constraints are equally important. Components are often mounted on custom platforms, sometimes using modular or 3D-printed supports, and must fit within tight spatial limitations. Standard fluidic connections are preferred to simplify assembly and maintenance.
This type of integration illustrates how radiochemistry automation systems are not only about software and control, but also about practical, robust fluidic design adapted to remote handling and extreme environments. It also highlights the importance of optimizing internal volume and minimizing dead volume, which helps reduce reagent consumption, limit product losses, and control overall process costs.
In radiochemistry automation, standard components are often not enough. Each setup has its own constraints, whether it is related to chemistry, layout, or integration inside a hot cell. This is where custom microfluidic engineering becomes essential.
At Advanced Microfluidics, the focus is on designing fluidic components and systems adapted to real operating conditions. This includes working with materials such as PEEK and other high-performance polymers that offer strong chemical resistance and long-term stability, even when exposed to aggressive acids and demanding environments. Material selection is always aligned with the application, to ensure compatibility, safety, and durability.
A key strength is the ability to develop custom-built components. This can range from adapting an existing microfluidic valve to creating a fully specific design, depending on the needs of the application. Geometry, internal volume, connection interfaces, and mechanical operation can all be optimized to fit within a defined system. This is especially important for integration into compact platforms, cassette-based systems, or hot cell environments where space and accessibility are limited.
AMF also brings strong engineering support throughout the development process. From early discussions to prototyping and validation, the approach is collaborative and focused on solving practical challenges. This includes understanding the full workflow, identifying constraints, and proposing solutions that are both efficient and realistic to implement.
Another important aspect is the control of internal volumes and fluidic performance. Minimizing dead volume and ensuring precise flow control are key factors in radiochemistry, where every microliter matters. AMF designs aim to reduce losses, improve reproducibility, and support consistent process conditions.
Finally, integration is always considered from the start. Components are designed to be compatible with standard connections and to fit into existing platforms or custom assemblies / sub-assemblies. Whether the system is manually operated, automated, or used in a remote environment, the goal is to provide reliable and easy-to-integrate solutions.
Through this combination of custom design, material expertise, and application-focused engineering, AMF supports the development of robust and efficient radiochemistry automation systems.
This is particularly relevant in environments where standard components are not designed to operate reliably.
Radiochemistry automation is evolving quickly, driven by the need for safer, faster, and more reliable workflows in nuclear medicine and radiopharmaceutical production. As systems become more complex and more constrained, the role of fluidic design becomes critical.
From handling radioactive materials to working with aggressive chemistry and limited volumes, every detail matters. Reliable, well-designed components can make the difference between a system that works in theory and one that performs consistently in real conditions.
If you are developing or improving a radiochemistry setup, whether for research, clinical use, or industrial production, custom fluidic solutions can help you reach the level of performance and reliability required.
Get in touch to discuss your application and explore the best approach for your setup.
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