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Copper has two stable isotopes, Cu and Cu, along with 27 radioisotopes. The most stable radioisotope is Cu with a half-life of 61.83 hours, while the least stable is Cu 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. Cu decays by both β and β.
Cu, Cu, Cu, Cu, and Cu each have one metastable isomer. Cu has two isomers, making a total of 7 distinct isomers. The most stable of these is Cu with a half-life of 3.75 minutes. The least stable is Cu with a half-life of 360 ns.
Copper offers a relatively large number of radioisotopes that are potentially suitable for use in nuclear medicine.
There is a growing interest in the use of Cu, Cu, Cu, and Cu for diagnostic purposes and Cu and Cu for targeted radiotherapy. For example, Cu has a longer half-life than most positron-emitters and is thus ideal for diagnostic PET imaging of biological molecules.