Chemistry with [18F]Fluoride Ion (Eur. J. Org. Chem. 17/2008)

Abstract

AbstractThe cover picture shows the “Chemistry with [18F]Fluoride Ion?”in PET radiotracer production. The procedure includes: (i) production of aqueous [18F]fluoride ion from the cyclotron‐promoted 18O(p,n)18F nuclear reaction on 18O‐enriched water, (ii) conversion of the aqueous [18F]fluoride ion into a more nucleophilic species by complexation with kryptand‐K+, (iii) incorporation of fluorine‐18 into a radiotracer, namely [18F]SP203, for brain mGluR5 receptors, (iv) positron emission tomography (PET) of the radiotracer in a human subject, and (v) generation of the corresponding PET image of the brain mGluR5 receptor distribution. These steps are presented over a clock background to stress the necessity to work quickly and efficiently with short‐lived fluorine‐18 (t1/2 = 109.7 min) and according to a tight time schedule from radionuclide production through to PET imaging. Details are presented in the Microreview by L. S. Cai, S. Y. Lu and V. W. Pike on p. 2853 ff. The authors thank Dr. A. K. Brown and other staff of the Molecular Imaging Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health (Bethesda, Maryland, USA) for the generation of the PET image.