The Al
18
F-labeling approach offers a one-step
access
to radiofluorinated biomolecules by mimicking the labeling process
for radiometals. Although these labeling conditions are considered
to be mild compared to classic radiofluorinations, improvements of
the chelating units have led to the discovery of
(±)-H
3
RESCA
, which allows Al
18
F-labeling already at ambient temperature. While the suitability
of
(±)-H
3
RESCA
for functionalization and radiofluorination of proteins is well
established, its use for small molecules or peptides is less explored.
Herein, we advanced this acyclic pentadentate ligand by introducing
an alkyne moiety for the late-stage functionalization of biomolecules
via click chemistry. We show that in addition to Al
18
F-labeling,
the cyclohexanediamine triazole (CHDT) moiety allows stable complexation
of
68
Ga and
111
In. Three novel CHDT-functionalized
PSMA inhibitors were synthesized and their Al
18
F-,
68
Ga-, and
111
In-labeled analogs were subjected
to a detailed
in vitro
radiopharmacological characterization.
Stability studies
in vitro
in human serum revealed
among others a high kinetic inertness of all radiometal complexes.
Furthermore, the Al
18
F-labeled PSMA ligands were characterized
for their biodistribution in a LNCaP derived tumor xenograft mouse
model by PET imaging. One radioligand,
Al[
18
F]F-CHDT-PSMA-1
, bearing a small azidoacetyl
linker at the glutamate-urea-lysine motif, provided an
in
vivo
performance comparable to that of
[
18
F]PSMA-1007
but with even higher
tumor-to-blood and tumor-to-muscle ratios at 120 min
p.i.
Overall, our results highlight the suitability of the novel CHDT
moiety for functionalization and radiolabeling of small molecules
or peptides with Al
18
F,
68
Ga, and
111
In and the triazole ring seems to entail favorable pharmacokinetic
properties for molecular imaging purposes.