Fluorescent labels

Claim 2

A fluorescent chelate of Eu⁺³ and a chelating agent having the general structure R represents hydrogen, alkyl, alkoxy, alkylthio, alkylamino, substituted or unsubstituted aryl, aryloxy, a heterocyclic group, an enzyme, antigen, or antibody; R¹ represents hydrogen, alkyl, alkoxy, alkylthio, alkylamino, substituted or unsubstituted aryl, a heterocyclic group, an enzyme, an antigen or an antibody; R² represents carboxy, hydroxy, carbonylimino­diacetic acid, methyleneiminodiacetic acid, hydra zinylylidenediacetic acid or the esters or salts of such acids; n is 0 to 4; and m is 0 to 1 provided that a) m can be 1 only when n is 0 and b) compounds of the structures (i), (ii) or (iii) are excluded from said general structure.

Claim 3

A fluorescently labeled specific binding reagent comprising a physiologically active material adsorbed or bound to a fluorescent label comprising a fluorescent chelate of a Eu⁺³ and a chelating agent as claimed in Claim 1.

Claim 4

The invention of claim 1 or 2 wherein the chelating agent has the structure R represents hydrogen, alkyl, alkoxy, alkylthio, alkylamino, substituted or unsubstituted aryl, aryloxy, a heterocyclic group, an enzyme, antigen, or antibody; R¹ represents hydrogen, alkyl, alkoxy, alkylthio, alkylamino, substituted or unsubstituted aryl, a heterocyclic group, an enzyme, an antigen or an antibody; R² represents carboxy, hydroxy, carbonylimino­diacetic acid, methyleneimino diacetic acid, hydrazinylylidene diacetic acid or the esters or salts of such acids; and n is 1 to 4.

Claim 5

The invention of claim 1 or 2 wherein the chelating agent has the structure R¹ represents hydrogen, alkyl, alkoxy, alkylthio, alkylamino, substituted or unsubstituted aryl, a heterocyclic group, an enzyme, an antigen or an antibody; and R² represents carboxy, hydroxy, carbonylimino­diacetic acid, methyleneimino diacetic acid, hydra­zinylylidene diacetic acid or the esters or salts of such acids.

Claim 6

The invention of claim 3 wherein R¹ represents hydrogen, phenyl, methoxyphenyl, tolyl, cyanophenyl, p-methylthiophenyl, methoxycar­bonylphenyl, an enzyme, an antibody or an antigen or p-(5,5-diphenylimidazolidine-2,4-dion-3-yl)methyl­phenyl; and R² represents carboxy, hydroxy, carbonylimino­diacetic acid, methyleneimino diacetic acid, hydra­zinylylidene diacetic acid or the salts of such acids.

Claim 7

The invention of claim 3 wherein the chelating agent has the structure

Claim 8

The invention of claim 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 wherein the physiologically active material is selected from antibodies, antigens, haptens, enzymes, enzyme substrates, metabolites, vitamins, hormones, hormone receptors, cell surface receptors and lectins.

Claim 9

The invention of any of Claims 1 - 6 wherein the mole ratio of Eu⁺³ to the chelating agent is from 1:1 to 2:1.

Claim 10

In a method for performing an immuno­assay comprising the steps of a) fluorescently labeling a ligand of interest, a derivative of said ligand or some other molecular entity, to produce a fluorescently labeled immuno logically binding ligand analog of said ligand of interest; b) adding a known amount of said fluorescently labeled ligand analog and an unknown amount of ligand to be assayed to a receptor which is capable of binding with said fluorescently labeled ligand analog and also is capable of binding with said ligand to be assayed; and c) determining the unknown amount of said ligand to be assayed by measuring the fluorescence of said fluorescently labeled ligand analog bound to said receptor or by measuring the fluorescence of said fluorescently labeled ligand analog remaining unbound, the improvement wherein the labeled ligand analog comprises ligand adsorbed or covalently bound to a fluorescent label comprising a fluorescent chelate of a lanthanide metal and a chelating agent as defined in Claim 1

Claim 11

A compound having one of the following structures

Claim 12

A compound having one of the following structures