Nitrogen-13

Nitrogen-13, 13N
General
Symbol13N
Namesnitrogen-13, 13N, N-13
Protons (Z)7
Neutrons (N)6
Nuclide data
Half-life (t1/2)9.97 min
Parent isotopes13O (β+)
Decay modes
Decay modeDecay energy (MeV)
β+1.2003
Isotopes of nitrogen
Complete table of nuclides

Nitrogen-13 (13N) is a radioisotope of nitrogen used in positron emission tomography (PET). It has a half-life of a little under ten minutes, so it must be made at the PET site. A cyclotron may be used for this purpose.

Nitrogen-13 is used to tag ammonia molecules for PET myocardial perfusion imaging.