NOVELTY - Providing carbon-11 (11C) labeled cyanides from 11C labeled oxides in a target gas stream retrieved from an irradiated high pressure gaseous target containing oxygen, comprises: (i) reducing 11C labeled oxides with hydrogen in the presence of a nickel catalyst under a pressure and temperature; (ii) combining the methane with an excess of ammonia in a carrier/reaction stream flowing at an accelerated velocity; and (iii) contacting the combined methane carrier/reaction stream with platinum catalyst particulate supported on a substantially-chemically-non reactive heat-stable support.    USE - The method is useful for providing 11C labeled cyanides from 11C labeled oxides in a target gas stream retrieved from an irradiated high pressure gaseous target containing oxygen, and the system is useful for producing H11CN gas from 11C-labeled oxides (all claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The method produces the C-11 cyanide in a rapid (in less than 9 minutes) and efficient manner, using the system which can be capable of processing small quantities of molecular probes, and can be capable of expediting chemical processing to reduce the overall processing or cycle times, simplifying the chemical processing procedures, and at the same time, provide the flexibility to produce a wide range of probes, biomarkers and labeled drugs, or drug analogs, inexpensively. The small size of the system is highly flexible to produce other C-11 labeled small molecules or integrated with the production of other small molecules e.g. C-11 carbon dioxide, C-11 methane, and C-11 carbon monoxide.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Providing carbon-11 (11C) labeled cyanides from 11C labeled oxides in a target gas stream retrieved from an irradiated high pressure gaseous target containing oxygen, comprises: (i) reducing 11C labeled oxides with hydrogen in the presence of a nickel catalyst under a pressure and a temperature to form a product stream comprising at least 95% of C-11 methane (11CH4); (ii) combining the methane with an excess of ammonia in a carrier/reaction stream flowing at an accelerated velocity; and (iii) contacting the combined methane carrier/reaction stream with a platinum catalyst particulate supported on a substantially-chemically-non reactive heat-stable support at a temperature of at least 900 degrees C, thus a product stream comprising at least 60% C-11 cyanide is provided in less than 10 minutes from retrieval of the 11C labeled oxides. INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are also included for:    (1) optimizing conversion of C-11 carbon dioxide (11CO2) to form 11CH4 by reducing 11CO2 with hydrogen using nickel catalyst, comprising: passing a 11CO2 stream with a stream of nitrogen and hydrogen under pressure through a chemical reduction zone having an entry and an exit, where the chemical reaction zone subdivided into three subzones, an entry subzone, a middle subzone, and an exit subzone, the entry and exit subzones provided with a nickel catalyst powder and the middle subzone provided with a mixture of nickel catalyst powder and molecular sieve, and heating the chemical reduction zone to promote the reduction, thus 11CO2 is at least partially reduced in the entry and exit subzone while the substantial balance of 11CO2 is absorbed by the molecular sieve and is subsequently desorbed in the presence of heat and substantially completely reduced in the presence of the nickel powder; and    (2) a system (10) for producing C-11 cyanide gas from 11C-labeled oxides in less than 9 minutes, comprising: a 11CO2 inlet conduit for receiving and conveying 11CO2 gas from a target; a hydrogen inlet conduit for receiving and conveying hydrogen gas from a source; a nitrogen inlet conduit for receiving and conveying nitrogen gas from a source; a nickel furnace (40) fluidly connected with the 11CO2 inlet, where the hydrogen inlet and the nitrogen inlet for receiving the 11CO2 gas, the hydrogen gas and the nitrogen gas respectively, and for heating the 11CO2 gas, the hydrogen gas and the nitrogen gas in the presence of a nickel catalyst contained within the nickel furnace to produce 1:CH4 gas; a 11CH4 conduit connected to an outlet of the nickel furnace for receiving and conveying the 11CH4 gas from the nickel furnace; ammonia inlet conduit for receiving and conveying ammonia gas from a source; a platinum furnace (110) fluidly connected with 11CH4 conduit and the ammonia inlet conduit for receiving the 1:CH4 gas and the ammonia gas respectively and for heating the 11CH4 gas and the ammonia gas in the presence of a platinum catalyst contained within the platinum furnace to produce c-11 cyanide gas; and a C-11 cyanide outlet conduit fluidly connected to an outlet of the platinum furnace for receiving and conveying the C-11 cyanide gas from the platinum furnace, where the 11CO2 inlet conduit, the hydrogen inlet conduit, the nitrogen inlet conduit, the nickel furnace, the 11CH4 conduit, the ammonia inlet conduit, the platinum furnace and the C-11 cyanide outlet conduit collectively define a total system gaseous volume of less than 18 ml.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a schematic drawing of C-11 cyanide production system.    System (10)    Nickel furnace (40)    Pressure gauge (42)    Cooling fan (58)    Platinum surface (110)