Capillary electrophoretic and thin-layer chromatographic characterization of rhenium complexation with 1-hydroxyethylidenediphosphonic acid

1-Hydroxyethylidenediphosphonic acid (HEDP) labeled by short-lived radionuclides with the nuclear properties suitable for the therapeutical purposes (¹⁸⁶Re, ¹⁸⁸Re, ¹⁶⁶Ho) is similar to the other phosphonates widely applied in the radiopharmaceutical field for the treatment of palliative bone metastases. One of the important steps for the preparation of compounds of radiopharmaceutical interest is the quality control comprehending the radiochemical and chemical purity determination. Chromatographic methods as TLC and HPLC are mostly used for this purpose. Our experiments were focused on the application of capillary electrophoresis with UV detection to the study of rhenium complexation with HEDP. The influence of pH, concentration of the ligand and the reaction time were determined. Taking in account our previous results, the Re:SnCl₂ molar ratio 1:500 (for 0.1 mM Re) was applied to reduce perrhenate to lower oxidation states which enables the Re–HEDP complexation. Different background electrolytes were tested. The mixture of 40 mM Na₂HPO₄ with 15 mM HEDP adjusted to pH 8 was selected as the most suitable system because it enabled the separation of different forms of Re–HEDP complexes. The results obtained in this study were compared to those obtained by thin-layer chromatography with radiometric detection.