A new method to label preformed liposomes with high activities of radiohalogenated compounds has been developed. It uses activated esters of simple synthetic molecules that may be readily halogenated, such as Bolton-Hunter reagent (BH), and arginine-containing liposomes. BH, in the form of an activated ester, crosses the liposome membrane to react with arginine inside the liposomes, as demonstrated by thin-layer chromatography and by the fact that saline-containing liposomes, or hydrolyzed BH or the water soluble sulfo-BH afforded only marginal encapsulation yields. Under optimized conditions, between 37 and 55 degrees C, 62 +/- 4% (mean +/- SD) of radiolabeled BH were consistently encapsulated in the liposomes within 30 min. In molar amounts, this corresponds to a mean of 56 nmol of BH per micromol of lipids. Based on achievable specific activity, up to 2.8 GBq of iodine-131 could be entrapped per micromol of lipids. Leakage of radioactivity was very low, with less than 5% of the encapsulated activity released within 6 days at 4 degrees C in phosphate-buffered saline and less than 50% within 24 h in human serum at 37 degrees C. The labeling stability, and the fact that both conventional and PEGylated liposomes can be readily labeled with high doses of radioactivity, will make this technique useful for in vivo targeting applications, such as tumor detection (using iodine-123 or iodine-124) or therapy (with iodine-131 or astatine-211).