Disodium iminodiacetate is a salt of iminodiacetic acid (IDA). The iminodiacetate anion can act as a tridentate ligand to form a metal complex with two, fused, five-membered chelate rings. Iminodiacetic acid is used to diagnose problems of the liver, gallbladder and bile ducts in an imaging procedure, called as hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid (HIDA) scan. A nuclear medicine scanner tracks the flow of the tracer from the liver into the gallbladder and small intestine and creates computer images. In addition, iminodiacetate is a part of the iminodiacetate-modified poly-L-lysine dendrimer (IMPLD), a fluorescent bone-imaging agent. IMPLD is used in the diagnosis of bone tumors, or to be used for the delivery of chemotherapy drugs or therapeutic agents. Bones differ from other body tissues in their unique calcium mineral composition, which consists mainly of hydroxyapatite (HA). IDA functionalization could be used as a general approach to bone targeting by increasing affinity for HA, enabling the transport of other molecules or particles to bones.