Synthetic Strategy to Prepare DOTA-Based Bifunctional Chelating Agent Ready to Bind Biomolecular Probes

Due to the continued interest in new bifunctional chelating agents (BFCA), we focused on the development of a convenient synthesis of 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7-tris(acetic acid)-10-butyrate mono (N-hydroxysuccinimidyl ester). It consists in the macrocycle DO3A derivatized with an aliphatic linker containing an active ester that requires selective and mild conditions to react with the targeting biomolecule. It is important to underlay the versatility of the obtained BFCA, which can be conjugated both to a biomolecule (protein, Fab fragment) or to a synthetic molecule. In a subsequent step, the developed chelator was successfully conjugated to a peptide sequence.