Coordination-Mediated Synthesis of 67Ga-Labeled Purification-Free Trivalent Probes for in Vivo Imaging of Saturable Systems.

A large excess of unlabeled ligands over gallium-67 (67Ga) provides 67Ga-labeled probes with high radiochemical yields in a short reaction time. However, the unlabeled ligands hinder target accumulation of radiolabeled probes by competing for target molecules. To circumvent the problem, we investigated the way to prepare 67Ga-labeled multivalent probes from monovalent ligands. The reaction of a bi- or tridentate ligand with [67Ga]Ga-citrate resulted in 67Ga-labeled probes of insufficient stability. However, the reaction of [67Ga]Ga-citrate with a mixture of RGD-conjugated salicylaldehyde and triamine provided a 67Ga-labeled trivalent probe with stability sufficient for in vivo applications. Since the free Schiff base ligand decomposed rapidly upon injection, the 67Ga-labeled trivalent probe visualized the murine tumor without postlabeling purification, which was not achieved with a 67Ga-labeled trivalent probe from a trivalent ligand. These findings indicate the availability of Schiff base ligands to prepare 67Ga-labeled trivalent probes by a simple radiolabeling procedure.