This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout


References
Eder, M. et al. Novel preclinical and radiopharmaceutical aspects of [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-HBED-CC: a new PET tracer for imaging of prostate cancer. Pharmaceuticals 7, 779–796 (2014).
Eder, M. et al. 68Ga-Complex lipophilicity and the targeting property of a urea-based PSMA inhibitor for PET imaging. Bioconjug. Chem. 23, 688–697 (2012).
Rodnick, M. E. et al. Synthesis of 68Ga-radiopharmaceuticals using both generator-derived and cyclotron-produced 68Ga as exemplified by [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 for prostate cancer PET imaging. Nat. Protoc. 17, 980–1003 (2022).
Martin, S. et al. Identification, characterization, and suppression of side products formed during the synthesis of [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617. J. Med. Chem. 64, 4960–4971 (2021).
Ioppolo, J. A., Alvarez de Eulate, E., Cullen, D. R., Mohamed, S. & Morandeau, L. Development of a high‐performance liquid chromatography method for rapid radiochemical purity measurement of [18F]PSMA‐1007, a PET radiopharmaceutical for detection of prostate cancer. J. Label. Compd. Radiopharm. 66, 58–72 (2023).
Cardinale, J. et al. Procedures for the GMP-compliant production and quality control of [18F]PSMA-1007: a next generation radiofluorinated tracer for the detection of prostate cancer. Pharmaceuticals 10, 77 (2017).
Ajish Kumar, K. S. & Mathur, A. Total chemical synthesis of PSMA-11: API for 68Ga-PSMA-11 used for prostate cancer diagnosis. Eur. J. Med. Chem. Rep. 3, 100014 (2021).
Wichmann, C. W. et al. Automated radiosynthesis of [68Ga]Ga‐PSMA‐11 and [177Lu]Lu‐PSMA‐617 on the iPHASE MultiSyn module for clinical applications. J. Label. Compd. Radiopharm. 64, 140–146 (2021).
Boros, E., Pinkhasov, O. R. & Caravan, P. Metabolite profiling with HPLC–ICP–MS as a tool for in vivo characterization of imaging probes. EJNMMI Radiopharm. Chem. 3, 2 (2018).
Klika, K. D., Da Pieve, C., Kopka, K., Smith, G. & Makarem, A. Synthesis and application of a thiol-reactive HBED-type chelator for development of easy-to-produce Ga-radiopharmaceutical kits and imaging probes. Org. Biomol. Chem. 19, 1722–1726 (2021).
Klika, K. D., Alsalim, R., Eftekhari, M. & Makarem, A. Synthesis of a polyaminocarboxylate-based aluminum complex and its structural studies using 1 H{13C}-HMBC NMR and a Karplus-type function. Dalt. Trans. 51, 12436–12441 (2022).
Hennrich, U. & Eder, M. [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11: the first FDA-approved 68Ga-radiopharmaceutical for PET imaging of prostate cancer. Pharmaceuticals 14, 713 (2021).
Acknowledgements
This work was partially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft project number 546563412. We would also like to acknowledge W. Maison for his support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
A.M. coordinated and directed the work and wrote the manuscript. J.H. served as the scientific advisor and reviewed the manuscript. K.D.K. served as the scientific advisor and contributed to writing, reviewing and editing the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Peer review
Peer review information
Nature Protocols thanks Mark Daniel Bartholomä and Joseph Ioppolo for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
Supplementary Figs. 1–6.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Makarem, A., Han, J. & Klika, K.D. Byproducts in the synthesis of [68Ga]Ga-PSMA-11. Nat Protoc (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-025-01164-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-025-01164-6