The radiolytic landscape
The isotopes driving the radiopharmaceutical wave span a hundredfold range of half-lives and decay energies. That physics is entirely public. It sets how much peroxide each one generates in the vial, and for how long. Here is the whole landscape, side by side.
Every number below is public and sourced. Half-lives and decay modes are verified against the IAEA Live Chart of Nuclides and the NNDC; the mean-energy and radiolysis-yield inputs are drawn from the cited radiation-physics literature. The curves are modeled from that physics with DuraRad's shared radiolysis engine, the same model behind the simulator.
Comparative fingerprint
Each curve is the modeled hydrogen-peroxide burden an uncoated vial accumulates over storage time, run at each isotope's representative clinical activity in a common 6R vial. Two public-physics dials drive the differences. Decay energy and yield set the height; half-life sets the shape.
Scroll the chart
HeightHeight is how much peroxide the model accumulates; color groups the three decay families, whose radiolytic yield rises with LET (alpha over mixed over beta).
ShapeThe knee where each curve flattens sits at that isotope's half-life. Short-lived tracers finish on the left, long-lived therapeutics carry their burden across days on the right.
Modeled from measured peroxide clearance in DuraRad vials and literature radiolysis yields. Radioactive validation designed and scheduled for Q4 2026 at Washington University in St. Louis.
Pseudo-first-order H₂O₂ clearance, k = 0.107 min⁻¹ (Batch 2, 6R / 3.0 mL). Generation from literature G-values. Performance under continuous irradiation not yet validated.
The roster
Ordered by clinical weight: the therapeutic anchors first, then the diagnostic tracers. Each tile carries the public nuclear data behind its fingerprint. Open any one in the simulator to see DuraRad's modeled effect on that isotope.
Lu-177
Lutetium
The commercial workhorse
Clinical usePSMA & somatostatin therapy (Pluvicto, Lutathera)
A 6.6-day half-life delivers a low-energy beta dose sustained across the entire shelf life, the profile behind documented radiochemical-purity loss in ¹⁷⁷Lu products.
View isotope profileAc-225
Actinium
The high-LET hero
Clinical useTargeted alpha therapy (TAT)
A four-alpha decay chain packs roughly 27 MeV of high-LET energy per parent decay, the densest radiolytic track in the clinical roster.
NNDC updated the Ac-225 half-life to 9.92 d; the model curve uses the legacy 10.0 d value, a difference invisible on the illustrative fingerprint.
View isotope profileY-90
Yttrium
The high-energy beta
Clinical useRadioembolization & radionuclide therapy
A hard 0.93-MeV mean beta over a 2.7-day half-life, high energy deposited per decay across a moderate usable window.
View isotope profileI-131
Iodine
The proven therapeutic
Clinical useThyroid ablation & radionuclide therapy
Gigabecquerel therapy activities over an 8-day half-life make for the longest sustained beta burden in the roster.
View isotope profilePb-212
Lead
The in-vivo alpha generator
Clinical useTargeted alpha therapy (TAT)
A beta-emitting parent feeding a high-energy alpha chain, a mixed-LET burden concentrated into a 10.6-hour half-life.
View isotope profileGa-68
Gallium
The PET sprinter
Clinical usePET imaging (PSMA, DOTATATE)
A 68-minute half-life collapses the entire radiolytic dose into a short, intense burst before the tracer is used.
View isotope profileZr-89
Zirconium
The immunoPET tracer
Clinical useAntibody PET (immunoPET)
A 3.3-day half-life matched to antibody pharmacokinetics, a mostly electron-capture decay whose low per-decay energy is sustained across a long imaging window.
View isotope profileCu-64
Copper
The theranostic twin
Clinical usePET imaging & radionuclide therapy
Three competing decay branches (β⁺, β⁻, electron capture) over a 12.7-hour half-life make its charged-particle output unusually mixed.
View isotope profileCu-67
Copper
The therapeutic twin
Clinical useRadionuclide therapy
Cu-64's therapeutic twin, chemically identical: a low-energy beta sustained at gigabecquerel therapy activity over a 2.6-day half-life, and increasingly paired in the clinic.
View isotope profileAt-211
Astatine
The single-alpha therapeutic
Clinical useTargeted alpha therapy (TAT)
A clean single-alpha decay delivered at high activity over a 7.2-hour half-life, high-LET intensity on a short clock.
View isotope profileData & sources
Half-life and decay mode are public nuclear data, verified against the sources below. The energy shown is the charged-particle energy deposited per parent decay: for single-particle beta and alpha emitters, the mean energy of the emitted particle; for the mixed positron / electron-capture emitters (Cu-64, Ga-68, Zr-89), the charged-particle energy averaged over every decay branch, including the beta-minus branch Cu-64 also carries and the electron-capture branches, which emit only low-energy Auger electrons rather than a positron, so the per-decay figure is well below any single beta or positron endpoint; for the decay chains (Ac-225, Pb-212), the summed charged-particle energy of the chain in secular equilibrium. G-values are representative LET-dependent radiolysis yields from the radiation-chemistry literature, used as model inputs, not precision constants.
The fingerprints above are the problem. The simulator shows the response: load any isotope and watch the modeled peroxide curve with a DuraRad coating against an uncoated vial.