Starting from the Traditional Chinese Medicine β-elemene, a new kind of β-elemene tricarbonyl rhenium complex was prepared via halogenation and nucleophilic substitution reactions, followed by reaction with tricarbonyl rhenium. Under the similar reaction conditions, the radioactive β-elemene tricarbonyl rhenium complex was synthesized. All the compounds were characterized by IR, ¹H NMR, HRMS, HPLC or elemental analysis. The anticancer activity of the target compound was observed in Hela and LLC lines in vitro. The β-elemene tricarbonyl rhenium complex provides the possibility to explore the anticancer mechanism of β-elemene and furthermore find a new kind of radiopharmaceuticals on basis of β-elemene.

Key words: β-elemene, tricarbonyl rhenium, Re-188, radiosynthesis, anticancer activity