Investigating linker chemistries for radiochemical ligand design

In radiotherapeutics, a wide range of organic ligands have been designed to coordinate inorganic radioisotopes for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. These ligands are typically conjugated to a targeting moiety through a linker; an organic bridge between the ligand and the targeting moiety. Current linker chemistry draws from a narrow pool of available linkers, with many new ligand designs providing optimised coordination of the radioisotope, but default to one of these linkers for conjugation of the targeting moiety. These linkers are not inert molecules and as such, impart effects on the overall chemical properties and biological fate of the radiotherapeutic. This project will work to investigate different linker designs and their chemistries to further understand how they impact the chemistries of current clinical ligands and the biological fates of these ligands within the body.