In the title mol-ecule, C(17)H(15)NO(5)S, the dihedral angle between the essentially planar atoms of the tosyl moiety (the S atom and the seven tolyl C atoms) and the phthalimide moiety is 6.089 (3)°. The mol-ecule is folded about the ethyl-ene bridge, adopting a staggered conformation such that the benzene ring of the tosyl group and the five-membered ring of the phthalimide moiety have a face-to-face orientation with a centroid-to-centroid separation of 3.7454 (12) Å. The crystal structure is stabilized by weak inter-molecular π-π inter-actions between symmetry-related five-membered rings of the phthalimide groups, with a centroid-to-centroid distance of 3.3867 (11) Å. The compound is used for the attachment of a suitable chelate functionality for radiolabeling purposes.