Facile synthesis of 1-(acetic acid)-4,7,10-tris(tert-butoxycarbonylmethyl)-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane: a reactive precursor chelating agent

1-(Acetic acid)-4,7,10-tris(tert-butoxycarbonylmethyl)-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane (DOTA-Tris-(t)Bu ester or 1) is a precursor chelating agent for lanthanide ions and can be efficiently labeled with various functional moieties or macromolecules to improve the targeting specificity, intracellular delivery, biocompatibility, and pharmacokinetics of resulting contrast media used in molecular imaging. This compound is commercially available but the extremely high cost seriously limits its wide utilization. Thus, we sought a convenient and inexpensive synthesis of DOTA-Tris-(t)Bu ester that is readily adapted for use in any laboratory. The synthetic approach described here is straightforward and has an overall yield of 92%. Significantly, the product can be purified conveniently without using of a time- and labor-intensive column chromatography. Other advantages of this method, such as operational convenience, starting material availability, and atom efficiency make it very attractive to prepare DOTA-Tris-(t)Bu ester in large quantity with a reduced cost. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.