Chapter 3
Porphyrin and Phthalocyanine
Radiolabeling
Venugopal Rajendiran, Sanjana Ghosh and Jonathan F. Lovell
Abstract There have been substantial improvements in radiopharmaceutical
chemistry with respect to designing new diagnostic and therapeutic agents for
combatting diseases. Porphyrin and phthalocyanine derivatives have been explored
in this field because they possess unique photophysical properties, can accumulate
in human and animal tumors, and their metal complexes are both thermodynamically and kinetically stable. A wide variety of radiolabeled metalloporphyrins and
metallo phthalocyanines can be prepared that are stable in biological media.
Radiolabeled compounds have been employed in preclinical applications for
nuclear imaging, biodistribution studies, and photodynamic therapy. This chapter
provides an overview of radiopharmaceutical applications of porphyins and
phthalocyanines including small molecule and nanoparticle-based approaches.
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 Background on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines
Porphyrins are a class of intensely colored naturally occurring compounds that play
a vital role in numerous biological functions like photosynthesis and oxygen
transport, to name just two. The term porphyrin is derived from the Greek word
V. Rajendiran Á S. Ghosh Á J. F. Lovell (&)
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University at Buffalo,
State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
e-mail: jflovell@buffalo.edu
S. Ghosh
e-mail: sghosh22@buffalo.edu
V. Rajendiran
Department of Chemistry, School of Basic and Applied Sciences,
Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur 610005, India
e-mail: rajendiran@cutn.ac.in
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
D. S. Lee (ed.), Radionanomedicine, Biological and Medical Physics,
Biomedical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67720-0_3
49
Porphyrin and Phthalocyanine
Radiolabeling
Venugopal Rajendiran, Sanjana Ghosh and Jonathan F. Lovell
Abstract There have been substantial improvements in radiopharmaceutical
chemistry with respect to designing new diagnostic and therapeutic agents for
combatting diseases. Porphyrin and phthalocyanine derivatives have been explored
in this field because they possess unique photophysical properties, can accumulate
in human and animal tumors, and their metal complexes are both thermodynamically and kinetically stable. A wide variety of radiolabeled metalloporphyrins and
metallo phthalocyanines can be prepared that are stable in biological media.
Radiolabeled compounds have been employed in preclinical applications for
nuclear imaging, biodistribution studies, and photodynamic therapy. This chapter
provides an overview of radiopharmaceutical applications of porphyins and
phthalocyanines including small molecule and nanoparticle-based approaches.
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 Background on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines
Porphyrins are a class of intensely colored naturally occurring compounds that play
a vital role in numerous biological functions like photosynthesis and oxygen
transport, to name just two. The term porphyrin is derived from the Greek word
V. Rajendiran Á S. Ghosh Á J. F. Lovell (&)
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University at Buffalo,
State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
e-mail: jflovell@buffalo.edu
S. Ghosh
e-mail: sghosh22@buffalo.edu
V. Rajendiran
Department of Chemistry, School of Basic and Applied Sciences,
Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur 610005, India
e-mail: rajendiran@cutn.ac.in
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
D. S. Lee (ed.), Radionanomedicine, Biological and Medical Physics,
Biomedical Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67720-0_3
49