Synthesis and determination of metal chelate stabilities of n-alkyltriethylenetetra aminepentaacetic acid

n-Alkyl (n-C12H25- and n-C22H45-)triethylenctetraaminepentaacetic acids have been prepared by carboxymethylation on N-alkyltriethylenetctraanmine. These compounds were originally developed by Miller et al., as useful chelating agents for the removal of actinide ions from the human body. The determination of the chelate stability constants, which was not performed by the original authors, was performed for the C-12-derivative with Ca2+, Sr2+. Cu2+, Zn2+, Ni2+, La3+, Sm3+, Er3+, and Th4+ including H+, and the stabilities were evaluated by comparison with those of triethylenetetraaminehexaacetic acid (TrHA).