The 188Re(III)-EDTA complex--a multipurpose starting material for the preparation of relevant 188Re complexes under mild conditions.

An easy and gentle method for the preparation of 188Re(V) complexes with bidentate and tetradentate ligands is described starting from the precursor complex 188Re(III)-EDTA. That complex is prepared at room temperature in acidic solution and reacts by a combined re-oxidation/ligand exchange reaction with appropriate ligands like DMSA or ECD (DMSA = dimercapto succinic acid, ECD = L,L-ethylene dicysteine diethyl ester) or en, tau, and cyclam (en = ethylene diamine, tau = 1,4,8,11-tetraazaundecane, cyclam = 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclo-tetradecane) to the 188Re(V)-oxo- and dioxocomplexes, respectively. The chelates were unambiguously identified by chromatographic comparison with spectroscopically characterised samples or known 99mTc-kit reconstitutions. The reaction succeeds under mild conditions (room temperature, short time, neutral or weak basic solutions) with high yields and has potential for labelling of sensitive biomolecules with 188Re.