Syntheses and first crystal structures of rhenium complexes derived from omega-functionalized fatty acids as model compounds of technetium tracers for myocardial metabolism imaging

In an attempt to develop new technetium-based radiopharmaceuticals for the non-invasive diagnosis of myocardial metabolism, we have synthesized three examples of novel metal-containing fatty acid derivatives according to the '3+1' mixed-ligand and the Schiff Base/tricarbonyl design. The chelates contain the metal core in the oxidation states +5 and +1 respectively, and were attached to the ending position of a fatty acid chain. The complex formation was accomplished by ligand exchange reactions using three different rhenium precursors, whereas the inactive rhenium metal was utilized as surrogate of the technetium radionuclide. The molecular structures of the fatty acid complexes 7, 10 and 14 were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses and show impressively a general problem in technetium tracer research, namely the significant structural alterations of bioactive molecules by coordination even to small-sized metal chelates.