The 18-membered macrocycle H 2 macropa was investigated for 225 Ac chelation in targeted alpha therapy (TAT). Radiolabeling studies showed that macropa, at submicromolar concentration, complexed all 225 Ac (26 kBq) in 5min at RT.[ 225 Ac(macropa)] + remained intact over 7t o 8dayswhen challenged with either excess La 3+ ions or human serum, and did not accumulate in any organ after 5hin healthy mice.Abifunctional analogue,macropa-NCS,was conjugated to trastuzumab as well as to the prostate-specific membrane antigen-targeting compound RPS-070. Both constructs rapidly radiolabeled 225 Ac in just minutes at RT,a nd macropa-Tmab retained > 99 %o fi ts 225 Ac in human serum after 7days. In LNCaP xenograft mice, 225 Ac-macropa-RPS-070 was selectively targeted to tumors and did not release free 225 Ac over 96 h. These findings establish macropa to be ah ighly promising ligand for 225 Ac chelation that will facilitate the clinical development of 225 Ac TATf or the treatment of soft-tissue metastases.Radium-223 ( 223 Ra) is the first therapeutic a-emitting radionuclide to be approved for clinical use in cancer patients. Administered as 223 RaCl 2 ,i th as been employed in the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer since 2013. [1] Theo steophilic nature and high-energy aparticle emanations,respectively,of 223 Ra 2+ ions are effective for targeting and eradicating bone metastases originating from this disease. [2] To more generally harness the therapeutic potential of a-particles for soft-tissue metastases,the strategy of targeted alpha-particle therapy (TAT)h as emerged, [3,4] whereby lethal a-emitting radionuclides are conjugated to tumor-targeting vectors using bifunctional chelators [5] to selectively deliver cytotoxic a radiation to cancer cells (Figure 1a).Among the suitable radionuclides for such an application, actinium-225 ( 225 Ac) is highly promising for use in TATowing to its long 10-day half-life that is compatible with antibodybased targeting vectors and four high-energy a-emissions that are extremely lethal to cells. [6][7][8][9][10] Ak ey challenge for the implementation of 225 Ac TATi st he lack of as uitable bifunctional chelator that can rapidly bind the Ac 3+ ion and stably retain it in vivo. [11][12][13][14] Although ah ighly promising bispidine-based chelator has recently been disclosed, [15] the 12-membered tetraaza macrocycle H 4 DOTA (Figure 1b)i s currently the state of the art for the chelation of the 225 Ac 3+ ion. [7,12,16] However,t he thermodynamic stabilities of complexes of H 4 DOTA decrease as the ionic radius of the metal ion increases, [17,18] thus indicating that this ligand is not optimal for chelation of the Ac 3+ ion, the largest + 3ion in the periodic table. [19] Furthermore,the 225 Ac-radiolabeling kinetics of this ligand are slow (see below), thus necessitating the Figure 1. a) Schematic diagram depicting the concept of targeted alpha therapy using 225 Ac. b) Structures of the ligands discussedi n this work. Supportinginformation and the ORCID identification n...