Radiometals have been commonly used in medical applications, and utilization of such metals continues to be an attractive research area. In particular, a variety of radiometals have been developed and implemented for molecular imaging. For such applications, 89Zr has been one of the most interesting radiometals currently used for tumor targeting. Several chemical ligands were developed as 89Zr chelators, and new coordinating methods have also been developed more recently. In addition, immuno-positron emission tomography (PET) studies using 89Zr-labeled monoclonal antibodies have been performed by several scientists. In this review, recent advances to the coordination of 89Zr and the utilization of 89Zr in PET studies are described.
Keywords: 89Zr; Coordination; Ligand; Positron emission tomography (PET).