| abstract |
A radiopharmaceutical chemical compound is claimed comprising radioactive Technetium-99m having the structure:n wherein each R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 5 , R e , R 7 and R a , is independently selected from at least one of hydrogen and substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, cycloalkyl, heterocyclic alkyl, aryl, carboxylic acid ester, and carboxylic acid amide; provided at least one of R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 6 , R 6 , R 7 , and R 8 , contains at least one nitrogen atom. The non-isotope containing ligand precursor compounds and the diene intermediate to the ligand are also claimed. n Compounds of this structure comprising Technetium-99m have a lipophilicity sufficiently high at a pH of 7.6 to permit passage of the compounds from the blood of a mammal into a target organ or tissue and sufficiently low at a pH of 6.6 to prevent rapid return of the compounds from the target organ or tissue to the blood. n A method and kit for selectively depositing a radiopharmaceutical compound in at least one target tissue or organ of a mammal, which tissue or organ has a significantly different intracellular pH than the blood of the mammal, by introducing one or more compounds of the invention into the bloodstream of the mammal. |