A METHOD OF GENERATING METAL CHELATING AFFINITY LIGANDS

摘要

The present invention relates to a method of generating polydentate metal chelating affinity ligands, which method comprises the steps of providing a cyclic scaffold comprising a carbonyl, an adjacent sulphur and a nucleophile; providing a polydentate metal chelating affinity ligand arm on each scaffold by derivatisation of said nucleophile; ring-opening of the scaffold by adding a reagent that adds more metal chelating affinity ligand arm(s) to the scaffold; and, if required, deprotecting the functionalities of the ligand arm(s) so provided. In the most preferred embodiment of the method, the ring-opening and the deprotection steps are performed in a single step.