A novel [18F]fluoride relay reagent for radiofluorination reactions

Objectives Fluorine‐18 is the most utilized radioisotope in Positron Emission Tomography (PET), but the wide application of fluorine‐18 radiopharmaceuticals is hindered by its challenging labelling conditions. This necessitates production at centralized PET centres with highly specialized equipment including cyclotrons, hot cells, synthesizers, and HPLC capabilities, which ultimately limit the availability of fluorine‐18 tracers to those whose production has a large marketing scale (e.g., [18F]FDG). As such, many potentially important leads remain underutilized. Herein, we describe the use of [18F]ethenesulfonyl fluoride (ESF) as a novel radiofluoride relay reagent that allows radiofluorination reactions to be performed in minimally equipped satellite nuclear medicine centres (Figure 1). Methods [18F]ESF was produced from 2,4,6‐trichlorophenylethenesulfonate using a microfluidic system and was stored on inert cartridges. The cartridges could be shipped remotely where trapped [18F]ESF was liberated by chosen solvent to a vial containing precursor and additives. The reaction mixture was then stirred and heated using a heating block. Reaction conditions including temperature, time, precursor concentration, and additives were optimised, and the radiochemical yields (RCYs) were compared with those for traditional [18F]fluoride method. Results We found that conditions of 1 mg/mL precursor, 0.5 mg/mL tetraethylammonium bicarbonate as additive, temperature of 100°C, and time of 15 min were useful to assess radiofluorination scope on commercially available precursors. The obtained RCYs were compared with those generated from traditional dried [18F]fluoride source and no statically significant difference was observed for most precursors. Some differences on RCYs, both positive and negative, were noted when novel type of precursors (i.e., boronic acids, iodonium ylides) were tested. Conclusions We have developed a method to perform radiofluorinations using a new radiofluoride relay reagent, [18F] ESF. Such method reduces the reaction equipment needed, in the simplest case to a simple heating block, single‐use vials and magnetic stir bar. Notably, this new process is not only compatible with typical commercial precursors, but also feasible to accommodate emerging precursors with novel leaving groups. © 2019 The Authors

Description

Volume 62, Supplement 1 of the Journal of Labelled Compounds & Pharmaceuticals is comprised of the Abstracts from ISRS 2019.

Keywords

Fluorides, Radioisotopes, Positron computed tomography, Radiopharmaceuticals, Labelling, Labelled compounds

Citation

Zhang, B., Fraser, B., Klenner, M., Chen, Z., Liang, S., Massi, M., Robinson, A. & Pascali, G. (2019). A novel [18F]fluoride relay reagent for radiofluorination reactions. Poster presented at the 23rd International Symposium on Radiopharmaceutical Sciences (ISRS 2019), Beijing, China, 26 to 31 May, 2019. In Journal of Labelled Compounds and Radiopharmaceuticals, 62(S1), S123-S588. doi:10.1002/jlcr.3725