[Development of neutral and bifunctional radiopharmaceuticals using 62Cu-dithiosemicarbazone (DTS) chelate--basic...

Recent plausibility of generator produced 62Cu, a positron emitter is attracting the interest of those working in the development of bifunctional radiopharmaceuticals (BR). In our development of bifunctional radiopharmaceuticals containing a neutral dithiosemicarbazone (DTS) metal chelate, tertiary (p-DPA-DTS) and quaternary (p-TPA-DTS) amino DTS derivatives were synthesized. As for the basic understanding of their divalent metal (Cu2+, Ni2+, Zn2+) complex formation and stability, spectrophotometrical studies were carried out, comparatively with KTS. Upon assessment of preferential behavior of Cu chelate, the radiolabeled 64Cu-DTS derivative chelates were tested in mice, and potential use with 62Cu in positron nuclear medicine is discussed.