Introduction of five potentially metabolizable linking groups between 111In-cyclohexyl EDTA derivatives and F(ab')2 fragments of anti-carcinoembryonic antigen antibody--I. A new reproducible synthetic method.

The purpose of this study was to synthesize new bifunctional linker-chelating agents for the modification of the in vivo distribution of 111In-labeled antibodies. A general simple synthetic method of preparing cyclohexyl EDTA (CDTA) derivatives containing a linker/spacer group is described. Linkers prepared included a diester, a six carbon aliphatic chain, two thioethers and a disulfide group. The CDTA-linker compounds were coupled to F(Ab')2 fragments of anti-carcinoembryonic antigen monoclonal antibody and labeled with 111In with good retention of immunoreactivity.