Sulfonyl Fluoride‐Based Prosthetic Compounds as Potential 18F Labelling Agents

Nucleophilic incorporation of [¹⁸F]F^? under aqueous conditions holds several advantages in radiopharmaceutical development, especially with the advent of complex biological pharmacophores. Sulfonyl fluorides can be prepared in water at room temperature, yet they have not been assayed as a potential means to ¹⁸F‐labelled biomarkers for PET chemistry. We developed a general route to prepare bifunctional 4‐formyl‐, 3‐formyl‐, 4‐maleimido‐ and 4‐oxylalkynl‐arylsulfonyl [¹⁸F]fluorides from their sulfonyl chloride analogues in 1:1 mixtures of acetonitrile, THF, or tBuOH and Cs[¹⁸F]F/Cs₂CO_3(aq.) in a reaction time of 15 min at room temperature. With the exception of 4‐N‐maleimide‐benzenesulfonyl fluoride ( 3 ), pyridine could be used to simplify radiotracer purification by selectively degrading the precursor without significantly affecting observed yields. The addition of pyridine at the start of [¹⁸F]fluorination (1:1:0.8 tBuOH/Cs₂CO_3(aq.)/pyridine) did not negatively affect yields of 3‐formyl‐2,4,6‐trimethylbenzenesulfonyl [¹⁸F]fluoride ( 2 ) and dramatically improved the yields of 4‐(prop‐2‐ynyloxy)benzenesulfonyl [¹⁸F]fluoride ( 4 ). The N‐arylsulfonyl‐4‐dimethylaminopyridinium derivative of 4 ( 14 ) can be prepared and incorporates ¹⁸F efficiently in solutions of 100 % aqueous Cs₂CO₃ (10 mg mL^?1). As proof‐of‐principle, [¹⁸F] 2 was synthesised in a preparative fashion [88(±8) % decay corrected (n=6) from start‐of‐synthesis] and used to radioactively label an oxyamino‐modified bombesin(6–14) analogue [35(±6) % decay corrected (n=4) from start‐of‐synthesis]. Total preparation time was 105–109 min from start‐of‐synthesis. Although the ¹⁸F‐peptide exhibited evidence of proteolytic defluorination and modification, our study is the first step in developing an aqueous, room temperature ¹⁸F labelling strategy.     

Synthesis of 18F‐Difluoromethylarenes from Aryl (Pseudo) Halides

A general method for the synthesis of [¹⁸F]difluoromethylarenes from [¹⁸F]fluoride for radiopharmaceutical discovery is reported. The method is practical, operationally simple, tolerates a wide scope of functional groups, and enables the labeling of a variety of arenes and heteroarenes with radiochemical yields (RCYs, not decay‐corrected) from 10 to 60 %. The ¹⁸F‐fluorination precursors are readily prepared from aryl chlorides, bromides, iodides, and triflates. Seven ¹⁸F‐difluoromethylarene drug analogues and radiopharmaceuticals including Claritin, fluoxetine (Prozac), and [¹⁸F]DAA1106 were synthesized to show the potential of the method for applications in PET radiopharmaceutical design.     

Difluorocarbene‐Derived Trifluoromethylthiolation and [18F]Trifluoromethylthiolation of Aliphatic Electrophiles

The first trifluoromethylthiolation and [¹⁸F]trifluoromethylthiolation of alkyl electrophiles with in situ generated difluorocarbene in the presence of elemental sulfur and external (radioactive) fluoride ion is described. This transition‐metal‐free approach is high yielding, compatible with a variety of functional groups, and operated under mild reaction conditions. The conceptual advantage of this exogenous‐fluoride‐mediated transformation enables unprecedented syntheses of [¹⁸F]CF₃S‐labeled molecules from most commonly used [¹⁸F]fluoride ions. The rapid radiochemical reaction time (≤1 min) and high functional‐group tolerance allow access to a variety of aliphatic [¹⁸F]CF₃S compounds in high yields.     

Electrochemical transfer of [18F]fluoride from [18O]water into organic solvents ready for labeling reactions

For labeling reactions [¹⁸F]fluoride has to be separated from [¹⁸O]water and transferred into an organic solvent suitable for nucleophilic substitutions. An electrolytical method is described for depositing [¹⁸F]fluoride on a vitreous carbon electrode and releasing it directly into CH₃CN or DMSO. In the presence of Et₃N×3HF, [¹⁸F]fluoride is almost quantitatively released into acetonitrile. When using n.c.a conditions, i.e., Et₃N^.HCl, desorption of the ¹⁸F activity is almost 70% and 60% in acetonitrile and DMSO, respectively, already within 5 minutes.     

The [F]2-Fluoro-1,3-thiazolyl Moiety - an Easily-Accessible Structural Motif for Prospective Molecular Imaging Radiotracers

2-Fluoro-1,3-thiazoles were rapidly and efficiently labeled with no-carrier-added fluorine-18 (t_1/2 = 109.7 min) by treatment of readily prepared 2-halo precursors with cyclotron-produced [¹⁸F]fluoride ion. The [¹⁸F]2-fluoro-1,3-thiazolyl moiety constitutes a new and easily-labeled structural motif for prospective molecular imaging radiotracers.     

Synthesis and Reactivity of α‐Cumyl Bromodifluoromethanesulfenate: Application to the Radiosynthesis of [18F]ArylSCF3

A highly reactive electrophilic bromodifluoromethylthiolating reagent, α‐cumyl bromodifluoro‐methanesulfenate 1 , was prepared to allow for direct bromodifluoromethylthiolation of aryl boron reagents. This coupling reaction takes place under copper catalysis, and affords a large range of bromodifluoromethylthiolated arenes. These compounds are amenable to various transformations including halogen exchange with [¹⁸F]KF/K₂₂₂ , a process giving access to [¹⁸F]arylSCF₃ in two steps from the corresponding aryl boronic pinacol esters.     

Synthesis of [18F]Fluoroarenes by Nucleophilic Radiofluorination of N‐Arylsydnones

A practical method for radiofluorination of anilines with [¹⁸F]fluoride via N ‐arylsydnone intermediates is described. These precursors are stable, easy to handle and facilitate direct and regioselective ¹⁸F‐labeling to prepare [¹⁸F]fluoroarenes. The value of this methodology is further highlighted by successful application to prepare an ¹⁸F‐labeled neuropeptide.     

Zirconium‐Catalyzed Atom‐Economical Synthesis of 1,1‐Diborylalkanes from Terminal and Internal Alkenes

A general and atom‐economical synthesis of 1,1‐diborylalkanes from alkenes and a borane without the need for an additional H₂ acceptor is reported for the first time. The key to our success is the use of an earth‐abundant zirconium‐based catalyst, which allows a balance of self‐contradictory reactivities (dehydrogenative boration and hydroboration) to be achieved. Our method avoids using an excess amount of another alkene as an H₂ acceptor, which was required in other reported systems. Furthermore, substrates such as simple long‐chain aliphatic alkenes that did not react before also underwent 1,1‐diboration in our system. Significantly, the unprecedented 1,1‐diboration of internal alkenes enabled the preparation of 1,1‐diborylalkanes.     

Ni‐Catalyzed Synthesis of Fluoroarenes via [2+2+2] Cycloaddition Involving α‐Fluorine Elimination

A method for direct synthesis of tetrasubstituted fluoroarenes via nickel‐catalyzed [2+2+2] cycloaddition is presented. The reaction combines one molecule of 1,1‐difluoroethylene with two molecules of alkynes and involves sequential cleavage of the C?F and C?H bonds in difluoroethylene. The catalytic cycle is established by reduction of the intermediary Ni^II fluoride with a triethylborane‐based borate.     

A General Copper‐Mediated Nucleophilic 18F Fluorination of Arenes

Molecules labeled with fluorine‐18 are used as radiotracers for positron emission tomography. An important challenge is the labeling of arenes not amenable to aromatic nucleophilic substitution (S_NAr) with [¹⁸F]F^?. In the ideal case, the ¹⁸F fluorination of these substrates would be performed through reaction of [¹⁸F]KF with shelf‐stable readily available precursors using a broadly applicable method suitable for automation. Herein, we describe the realization of these requirements with the production of ¹⁸F arenes from pinacol‐derived aryl boronic esters (arylBPin) upon treatment with [¹⁸F]KF/K₂₂₂ and [Cu(OTf)₂(py)₄] (OTf=trifluoromethanesulfonate, py=pyridine). This method tolerates electron‐poor and electron‐rich arenes and various functional groups, and allows access to 6‐[¹⁸F]fluoro‐L ‐DOPA, 6‐[¹⁸F]fluoro‐m‐tyrosine, and the translocator protein (TSPO) PET ligand [¹⁸F]DAA1106.     

Azeotropic drying-free aliphatic radiofluorination to produce PET radiotracers in a mixed organic solvent system

Efficient aliphatic radiofluorination in a mixed organic solvent system was investigated. This method obviates the time-consuming [¹⁸F]fluoride drying step routinely required in the preparation of most fluorine-18 positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracers. The [¹⁸F]fluoride ions eluted from a QMA (quaternary ammonium anion exchange) cartridge with phase transfer agents were directly mixed in various organic solvents for subsequent radiofluorination. Herein, we report the azeotropic drying-free radiofluorination of aliphatic substrates and demonstrate the viability of hydrated [¹⁸F]fluoride ions in a mixed organic solvent system for obtaining useful radiochemical yields (RCYs). This practical and simple method has demonstrated general applicability to the production of established PET tracers as well as to the rapid assessment and chemical optimization of early-stage potential radiotracers.     

Automated synthesis of symmetric integrin αvβ3-targeted radiotracer [18F]FP-PEG3-β-Glu-RGD2

A automated synthesis of symmetric integrin α_vβ₃-targeted radiotracer [¹⁸F]FP-PEG₃-β-Glu-RGD₂ was carried out by multi-step procedure on the modified PET-MF-2V-IT-I synthesizer. Firstly, the prosthetic group of 4-nitrophenyl 2-[¹⁸F]fluoropropionate ([¹⁸F]NFP) was automated synthesized by a convenient three-step, one-pot procedure. Secondly, [¹⁸F]FP-PEG₃-β-Glu-RGD₂ was synthesized by coupling [¹⁸F]NFP with the symmetric RGD-peptide (PEG₃-β-Glu-RGD₂) and purified by a solid-phase extraction cartridge. The radiochemical yields of [¹⁸F]NFP were 35 ± 5 % (n = 10, decay-corrected) based on [¹⁸F]fluoride in 80 min. [¹⁸F]FP-PEG₃-β-Glu-RGD₂ was obtained with yield 40 ± 10 % (n = 5, decay-corrected) from [¹⁸F]NFP within 20 min. The radiochemical purity of [¹⁸F]FP-PEG₃-β-Glu-RGD₂ was greater than 98 %.     

Synthesis of [F]xenon difluoride as a radiolabeling reagent from [F]fluoride ion in a micro-reactor and at production scale

[¹⁸F]Xenon difluoride ([¹⁸F]XeF₂), was produced by treating xenon difluoride with cyclotron-produced [¹⁸F]fluoride ion to provide a potentially useful agent for labeling novel radiotracers with fluorine-18 (t_1/2 = 109.7 min) for imaging applications with positron emission tomography. Firstly, the effects of various reaction parameters, for example, vessel material, solvent, cation and base on this process were studied at room temperature. Glass vials facilitated the reaction more readily than polypropylene vials. The reaction was less efficient in acetonitrile than in dichloromethane. Cs⁺ or K⁺ with or without the cryptand, K 2.2.2, was acceptable as counter cation. The production of [¹⁸F]XeF₂ was retarded by K₂CO₃, suggesting that generation of hydrogen fluoride in the reaction milieu promoted the incorporation of fluorine-18 into xenon difluoride. Secondly, the effect of temperature was studied using a microfluidic platform in which [¹⁸F]XeF₂ was produced in acetonitrile at elevated temperature (≥85 °C) over 94 s. These results enabled us to develop a method for obtaining [¹⁸F]XeF₂ on a production scale (up to 25 mCi) through reaction of [¹⁸F]fluoride ion with xenon difluoride in acetonitrile at 90 °C for 10 min. [¹⁸F]XeF₂ was separated from the reaction mixture by distillation at 110 °C. Furthermore, [¹⁸F]XeF₂ was shown to be reactive towards substrates, such as 1-((trimethylsilyl)oxy)cyclohexene and fluorene.     

A Localized Tolerance in the Substrate Specificity of the Fluorinase Enzyme enables “Last‐Step” 18F Fluorination of a RGD Peptide under Ambient Aqueous Conditions

A strategy for last‐step ¹⁸F fluorination of bioconjugated peptides is reported that exploits an “Achilles heel” in the substrate specificity of the fluorinase enzyme. An acetylene functionality at the C‐2 position of the adenosine substrate projects from the active site into the solvent. The fluorinase catalyzes a transhalogenation of 5′‐chlorodeoxy‐2‐ethynyladenosine (ClDEA) to 5′‐fluorodeoxy‐2‐ethynyladenosine (FDEA). Extending a polyethylene glycol linker from the terminus of the acetylene allows the presentation of bioconjugation cargo to the enzyme for ¹⁸F labelling. The method uses an aqueous solution (H₂¹⁸O) of [¹⁸F]fluoride generated by the cyclotron and has the capacity to isotopically label peptides of choice for positron emission tomography (PET).     

A Resin‐Linker‐Vector Approach to Radiopharmaceuticals Containing 18F: Application in the Synthesis of O‐(2‐[18F]‐Fluoroethyl)‐L‐tyrosine

A Resin‐linker‐vector (RLV) strategy is described for the radiosynthesis of tracer molecules containing the radionuclide ¹⁸F, which releases the labelled vector into solution upon nucleophilic substitution of a polystyrene‐bound arylsulfonate linker with [¹⁸F]‐fluoride ion. Three model linker‐vector molecules 7 a – c containing different alkyl spacer groups were assembled in solution from (4‐chlorosulfonylphenyl)alkanoate esters, exploiting a lipase‐catalysed chemoselective carboxylic ester hydrolysis in the presence of the sulfonate ester as a key step. The linker‐vector systems were attached to aminomethyl polystyrene resin through amide bond formation to give RLVs 8 a – c with acetate, butyrate and hexanoate spacers, which were characterised by using magic‐angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy. On fluoridolysis, the RLVs 8 a , b containing the longer spacers were shown to be more effective in the release of the fluorinated model vector (4‐fluorobutyl)phenylcarbamic acid tert‐butyl ester ( 9 ) in NMR kinetic studies and gave superior radiochemical yields (RCY≈60 %) of the ¹⁸F‐labelled vector. The approach was applied to the synthesis of the radiopharmaceutical O‐(2‐[¹⁸F]‐fluoroethyl)‐L ‐tyrosine ([¹⁸F]‐FET), delivering protected [¹⁸F]‐FET in >90 % RCY. Acid deprotection gave [¹⁸F]‐FET in an overall RCY of 41 % from the RLV.     

Organomediated Enantioselective 18F Fluorination for PET Applications

The first organomediated asymmetric ¹⁸F fluorination has been accomplished using a chiral imidazolidinone and [¹⁸F]N‐fluorobenzenesulfonimide. The method provides access to enantioenriched ¹⁸F‐labeled α‐fluoroaldehydes (>90 % ee), which are versatile chiral ¹⁸F synthons for the synthesis of radiotracers. The utility of this process is demonstrated with the synthesis of the PET (positron emission tomography) tracer (2S,4S)‐4‐[¹⁸F]fluoroglutamic acid.     

Determination of Total Radiochemical Purity of [18F]FDG and [18F]FET by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Avoiding TLC Method

The goal of this work was to present two high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method that could be applied for the determination of the total radioactive purity of 2-deoxy-2-[¹⁸F]fluoro-D-glucose ([¹⁸F]FDG) and O-(2-[¹⁸F]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine ([¹⁸F]FET). The separation of [¹⁸F]fluoride ions, [¹⁸F]FET and [¹⁸F]FET intermediate was accomplished on LiChrosper RP-18, 250?×?4 mm, 5 µm (Merck) analytical column. For mobile phase 10 mM potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer at pH7 (A) and acetonitrile (B) was used: 0–2 min: 15% B; 2–12 min: 85% B; 12–15 min: 15% B, respectively. Analysis of [¹⁸F]FDG was performed using LiChrosper 100 NH₂, 250?×?4.5 mm, 5 µm (Merck) analytical column. The initial mobile phase composition was 10 mM KH₂PO₄ buffer (pH7) and acetonitrile (15:85, v/v) and the acetonitrile ratio was decreased to 15% at 2 min after the sample injection and held for 5 min. Complete elution of [¹⁸F]fluoride ions from stationary phases could be achieved by adding 10 mg/mL K[¹⁹F]F to radioactive samples in a ratio 1:1 during the sample preparation. Recovery of [¹⁸F]fluoride ions ranged from 99.5 to 100.6%. The validation of the developed methods showed good results for linearity (r²?=?0.9981–0.9996), specificity (R_S?=?3.7–10.2), repeatability (%Area RSD_%?=?1.2–4.3%) and limit of quantitation (LOQ?=?1.6–4.5 kBq). During the cross-validation similar radiochemical purity values were obtained by the novel HPLC methods and thin layer chromatography performed according to the recommendations of the Ph. Eur. monographs.

     

Regioselective ring opening of 2-methylaziridine derivatives with F- and F-fluoride

Regioselectivity of the nucleophilic ring opening of N-benzoyl (Bz) and N-benzyloxycarbonyl (Cbz) activated 2-methylaziridines with anhydrous tetramethylammonium fluoride, anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, and ¹⁹F or [¹⁸F]-labelled potassium cryptand fluoride ([K₂₂₂][^18/19F]) were investigated. Whereas all reactions with rigorously anhydrous N(CH₃)₄F did not ring-open the aziridines, reactions with anhydrous HF exclusively yielded the 2-fluoropropanamine derivatives. Reactions of Bz-protected and Cbz-protected 2-methylaziridine with [K₂₂₂][^18/19F] yielded the 2-fluoropropanamine and 1-fluoro-2-propanamine derivatives as the major products, respectively, and represents the first example of regiocontrol during ring opening of aziridines with [¹⁸F]-fluoride.     

Copper‐Mediated Aminoquinoline‐Directed Radiofluorination of Aromatic C−H Bonds with K18F

A Cu‐mediated ortho‐C?H radiofluorination of aromatic carboxylic acids that are protected as 8‐aminoquinoline benzamides is described. The method uses K¹⁸F and is compatible with a wide range of functional groups. The reaction is showcased in the high specific activity automated synthesis of the RARβ2 agonist [¹⁸F]AC261066.     

Lewis Acid Promoted Single C–F Bond Activation of the CF3 Group: SN1′-Type 3,3-Difluoroallylation of Arenes with 2-Trifluoromethyl-1-alkenes

Activation of the sp³ C−F bond in 2-trifluoromethyl-1-alkenes was accomplished through treatment with a Lewis acid. In the presence of an equimolar amount of EtAlCl₂, the (trifluoromethyl)alkenes readily underwent an S_N1′-type reaction with arenes through a Friedel–Crafts-type mechanism via elimination of a fluoride ion to afford 3,3-difluoroallylated arenes in good yields. This selective activation of one C−F bond of the CF₃ group provides a synthetic method for accessing biologically and synthetically important 1,1-difluoro-1-alkenes.