Chemistry of technetium related to nuclear medicine

The goal of this research program is to elucidate certain features of the chemistry of technetium which can be exploited in the design of radiopharmaceuticals labeled with the radionuclide Tc-99m. Studies of the interaction between the metal in various oxidation states and donor ligands which occur in biological systems have continued. Using the long-lived isotope Tc-99, compounds are being isolated in amounts suitable for characterization by conventional methods of analysis. Within, we report further progress in the identification of thiol complexes which incorporate technetium in the +5 oxidation state, and on parallel studies using its congener rhenium. Also included are investigations into more efficient methods of synthesizing these complexes in aqueous media, and further electrochemical studies on a number of coordination compounds containing technetium