The compound known as "
synkavit" is a
diphosphate derivative of
vitamin K3 (menadion), which is capable of being selectively accumulated in certain tumour cells, and covalently bonded to
DNA producing considerable DNA damage. On the other hand,
iodine-125 nuclide incorporated into the nucleus of living cells causes extreme radiotoxic effects. Consequently,
synkavit can be used as a specific carrier of
iodine-125 into the nucleus of tumour cells. Thus, its iodo-derivatives have become interesting agents on the potential application of
iodine-125 in
cancer therapy. 6-Iodo-synkavit is a unique iodo-derivative described in the literature. In addition, its synthesis and radioiodination is still problematic, and consequently the results obtained using 6-iodo-synkavit labelled with
iodine-125 remains in question. For this reason, the synthesis of 6-iodo-synkavit was examined in this study. It is finally determined that a mixture of different iodo-isomers of
synkavit has been produced rather than its specific 6-iodo-isomer, when the synthetic sequence was begun with the direct sulfonation of 2-methyl-naphthalene. On the other hand, it is also determined that
synkavit can directly be radioiodinated using different iodination techniques, and
iodogen especially can be successfully used as an oxidative agent.