Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.137, No.17, 5686-5694, 2015
Titania-Catalyzed Radiofluorination of Tosylated Precursors in Highly Aqueous Medium
Nucleophilic radiofluorination is an efficient synthetic route to many positron-emission tomography (PET) probes, but removal of water to activate the cyclotron-produced [F-18]fluoride has to be performed prior to reaction, which significantly increases overall radiolabeling time and causes radioactivity loss. In this report, we demonstrate the possibility of F-18-radiofluorination in highly aqueous medium. The method utilizes titania nanoparticles, 1:1 (v/v) acetonitrile-thexyl alcohol solvent mixture, and tetra-n-butylammonium bicarbonate as a phase-transfer agent. Efficient radiolabeling is directly performed with aqueous [F-18]fluoride without the need for a drying/azeotroping step to significantly reduce radiosynthesis time. High radiochemical purity of the target compound is also achieved. The substrate scope of the synthetic strategy is demonstrated with a range of aromatic, aliphatic, and cydoaliphatic tosylated precursors.