Eric Benoist

A click procedure with heterogeneous copper to tether technetium-99m chelating agents and rhenium complexes. Evaluation of the chelating properties and biodistribution of the new radiolabelled glucose conjugates.

An efficient protocol was developed to tether chelating agents and rhenium complexes onto a glucoside scaffold with a heterogeneous copper catalyst via click chemistry. The supported catalyst avoids the formation of unwanted copper complexes during the cyclisation step. The possibility to graft a pre-chelated M(CO)(3) core by click chemistry onto a biomolecule was highlighted for the first time. (99m)Tc(CO)(3)-glucoconjugates displayed excellent in vitro stability, a fast in vivo blood clearance and a low specific organ uptake or long-term retention in spleen and stomach.

Synthesis, characterization and in vitro evaluation of new oxorhenium- and oxotechnetium-CCK4 derivatives as molecular imaging agents for CCK2-receptor targeting

The goal of this study is to design new (99m)Tc-radiolabelled shortened CCK derivatives that might be suitable for the molecular imaging of cholecystokinin-2 receptors (CCK2-R), these receptors being over-expressed in a number of neuroendocrine tumors such as medullary thyroid cancer and small-cell lung cancer. For this purpose, we designed several modified CCK4 analogs bearing an ON(2)S tetradentate chelating agent at the N-terminus, the CCK4 sequence representing the minimal peptide sequence that presents nanomolar affinity and activity towards the CCK2-R. Four peptide conjugates of general formula (Trt)SN(2)OPh-(X)(n)-CCK4 (X=beta-alanine or 6-aminohexanoic acid spacers; n=0, 2, 4) and their oxorhenium peptide conjugates have been synthesized and characterized. In vitro evaluation of these compounds showed a close relationship between the nature and the length of the spacer and the corresponding binding affinity values. The most promising oxorhenium complex 5-Re exhibited potent CCK2-receptor agonist properties in promoting the production of inositol phosphate in COS-7 cells (EC(50)=5.17nM). Preliminary (99m)Tc-radiolabelling studies with peptide conjugates 3 or 5 led exclusively to the corresponding (99m)TcO-complexes 3-Tc and 5-Tc, which exhibited high resistance towards an excess of cysteine and satisfactory stabilities in human serum. To conclude, the promising in vitro characteristics of compounds 5-Re, 5-Tc illustrate the feasibility to develop stable radiolabelled shortened CCK4 derivatives with a nanomolar CCK2-R affinity.

Synthesis and preliminary biological evaluation of the first 99mTc(I)-specific semi-rigid tridentate ligand based on a click chemistry strategy

A novel bifunctional chelating agent based on a click chemistry strategy has been synthesized and characterized on the basis of spectroscopic techniques. The metal chelating part of this new class of tridentate N2O ligand combined a triazole unit and an aromatic ring. This latter semi-rigid framework induced a pre-organization of the chelating cavity, improving the stability of the corresponding metallic complexes (M = (99m) Tc, Re). Thus, the (99m) Tc(CO)3 complex, obtained with good yield and excellent radiochemical purity (>90%), exhibited a high in vitro serum stability. Tissue biodistribution in normal mice showed a rapid clearance, no long-term retention in organs and no in vivo reoxidation of technetium-99m, making this compound a promising (99m)Tc-chelating system.

Influence of the chelator structures on the stability of Re and Tc tricarbonyl complexes with iminodiacetic acid tridentate ligands: a computational study

The development of novel radiopharmaceuticals for nuclear medicine based on M(CO)3 (M = Tc, Re) complexes has attracted great attention. The versatility of this core and the easy production of the fac-[M(CO)3(H2O)3]+ precursor could explain this interest. The main characteristics of these tricarbonyl complexes are the high substitution stability of the three CO ligands and the corresponding lability of the coordinated water molecules, yielding, via easy exchange of a variety of bi- and tridentate ligands, complexes xof very high kinetic stability. Here, a computational study of different tricarbonyl complexes of Re(I) and Tc(I) was performed using density functional theory. The solvent effect was simulated using the polarizable continuum model. These structures were used as a starting point to investigate the relative stabilities of tricarbonyl complexes with various tridentate ligands. These complexes included an iminodiacetic acid unit for tridentate coordination to the fac-[M(CO)3]+ moiety (M = Re, Tc), an aromatic ring system bearing a functional group (−NO2, −NH2, and –Cl) as a linking site model, and a tethering moiety (a methylene, ethylene, propylene butylene, or pentylene bridge) between the linking and coordinating sites. The optimized complexes showed geometries comparable to those inferred from X-ray data. In general, the Re complexes were more stable than the corresponding Tc complexes. Furthermore, using NH2 as the functional group, a medium length carbon chain, and ortho substitution increased complex stability. All of the bonds involving the metal center presented a closed shell interaction with dative or covalent character, and the strength of these bonds decreased in the sequence Tc-CO > Tc-O > Tc-N.

Lanthanide(III) complexes of pyridine–tetraacetic acid-glycoconjugates: Synthesis and luminescence studies of mono and divalent derivatives

A potent lanthanide chelate, fulfilling the requirements for the development of MRI contrast agents or luminescent probes, was armed with alkyne groups. We then implemented a click methodology to graft the bifunctional ligand to azide-containing glucoside and maltoside scaffolds. The resulting hydrophilic glycoconjugates retained the ligand binding capacity for Eu(3+) or Tb(3+) ion as evidenced by the number of bound water molecules to the lanthanide ion. Divalent Eu(3+) and Tb(3+) complexes were shown to double the brightness of the emitted fluorescent signal compared to its monovalent derivatives. Designing multivalent lanthanide luminescent probes would enable the fluorescent signal of labeled biomolecules to be enhanced.

New neutral and lipophilic technetium complexes based on a cytectrene moiety: synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation

Abstract The synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation of five neutral and lipophilic 99mTc-complexes, so-called cytectrenes, obtained from N-substitutedferrocenecarboxamide derivatives are reported. N-substitutedferrocenecarboxamide starting materials were obtained in two steps, with good yield and were fully characterized by classical spectroscopic methods including X-ray diffraction analysis for one of them. Using a microwave strategy for the 99mTc-radiolabelling step, each cytectrene were obtained quickly (radiolabelling time < 5 min), from modest to good yield. The 99mTc-complexes, characterized by HPLC comparison with cold rhenium complex analogues, are stable, neutral and lipophilic (log Po/w ranged between 1.8 and 2.9). Unfortunately, despite such suitable features, in vivo studies of two of them gave poor results, in terms of brain uptake. Both radiocompounds exhibited the maximum brain accumulation of 0.31% ID/g and 0.26% ID/g at 5 min post-injection, respectively, followed by a very fast washout from the brain (0.06% ID/g and 0.07% ID/g at 30 min post-injection, respectively). Although our ligand systems exhibited high stability against exchange reactions with blood proteins, the high radioactivity level in stomach, increasing with time, suggests in vivo decomposition of our complex to pertechnetate.

Di-tert-butyl N-{[1-(pyridin-4-yl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl]methyl}iminodiacetate

In the title compound, C20H29N5O4, the pyridine ring makes a dihedral angle of 10.41 (16)° with the triazole ring, which exhibits an azo-like character. In the crystal, molecules are linked by C—H⋯O and C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, and C—H⋯π interactions involving a methyl group and the pyridine ring of a neighbouring molecule, leading to the formation of a three-dimensional network.