S. Calderwood et al. / Journal of Fluorine Chemistry 178 (2015) 249–253
251
Scheme 1. Radiosynthesis of 4-[18F]fluorobiphenyl (2).
As the radiochemical conversion was almost quantitative, we
subjected 6,10-dioxaspiro[4.5]decane-7,9-dion-[1,3,5-trimethyl-
benzene-2-iodonium] ylide (3) to these conditions (16 mg/mL 3,
This allowed for an increased reaction residence time (32–64 s), while
reducing the increase in time to end of synthesis.
The adoption of the 8 metre reactor increased the incorporation
across the temperature range investigated (Fig. 2A), with the
optimum temperature being found to be 210 8C (68 ꢀ 5%, n = 3),
which represents an increase in conversion of 17% under a shorter
residence time than previously published microfluidic techniques
[15].
12 mg/mL [18F]TEAF/TEAB, DMF, 60
mL/min) (Scheme 2), in an
attempt to quantify the degree to which the application on
microfluidics could affect the conversion of these reactions. This
substrate gave a conversion of 82 ꢀ 4% (T = 220 8C, n = 4) to 2-
[
18F]fluoro-1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (4), which is almost double that
obtained by our previously published method (45 ꢀ 13%, n = 3) [10].
These conditions were successfully taken forward and combined
with SPE isolation to give a non-decay corrected RCY = 24 ꢀ 0.4%
(n = 3, relative to the amount of [18F]fluoride obtained at the end of
bombardment) in a totalsynthesis timeof 60 min from target unload to
assay of final product vial, with a radiochemical purity (RCP) of 95%
(Scheme 3). This procedure was fully automated from the azeotropic
drying of the 18F-fluoride to the final collection vial.
The use of these model substrates has shown that the
application of
a microfluidic reactor has the capability for
significantly improving the conversion of spirocyclic iodonium
ylides to 18F-arenes and justified our next efforts to apply this
technology to clinically relevant labelled compounds.
2.2. Synthesis of 4-[18F]fluorobenzyl azide
2.3. Synthesis of 3-[18F]Fluoro-5-[(pyridin-3-yl)ethynyl]benzonitrile
([18F]FPEB)
The first target molecule chosen for evaluation of this
microfluidic protocol was 4-[18F]fluorobenzyl azide (6), which is
used in a ‘building-block’ approach to radiopharmaceuticals which
cannot be directly fluorinated. This is achieved via fast, metal-free
‘‘click’’ reactions with strained alkynes, such as for Bombesin [13],
a GRP-receptor-specific 14 amino acid neuropeptide. Previous
procedures for the synthesis of 6 have followed several methodol-
ogies; via a stepwise procedure (4-steps, 75 min, RCY = 34% [decay
corrected]) [14], nucleophilic aromatic substitution of a nitro
group [13] or via microfluidic approach using diaryliodonium salt
precursors which gave a RCC of 51% with 3% of the labelled anisole
by-product [15]. The stepwise procedure was automated using
solid supports to improve the RCY to up to 60% over a 40 min
synthesis time [16]. We have previously reported a manual one-
step radiosynthesis using an iodonium ylide precursor (6) with
RCY of 25 ꢀ 10% (n = 3) [10] via solid phase extraction (SPE) isolation
techniques, utilising this spirocyclic iodonium(III) ylide chemistry
Initial reactions, using the optimised conditions for the reaction
of 1, on 6,10-dioxaspiro[4.5]decane-7,9-dion-[1-(azidomethyl)-
benzene-4-iodonium] ylide (5) gave moderate conversion to 6
(31 ꢀ 1%, T = 200 8C, n = 3), and a temperature dependence similar to
that seen for radiofluorination of 1 (Fig. 2A). However, unlike in the
synthesis of 2, it was found that there was a significant increase in the
yield when the flow rate was dropped from 60 mL/min to 20 mL/min
(44%, T = 200 8C, n = 1) (Fig. 2B). This is likely attributed to the
increase in residence time in the reactor (32–96 s), though this
decrease in total flow rate consequently increases the time taken per
reaction. In an attempt to enable an increase in residence time, whilst
reducing the obligatory increase in run time, the reactor was changed
from 4 metres in length (32 mL volume) to 8 metres (64 mL volume).
Our final efforts focused on the synthesis of a radiopharmaceuti-
cal targeting the metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype type 5
(mGluR5), a glutamatergicneuralreceptorimplicated ina numberof
central nervous system disorders including chronic neurodegener-
ative disorders, such as Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease [17].
3-[18F]Fluoro-5-[(pyridin-3-yl)ethynyl]benzonitrile ([18F]FPEB, 8)
is a mGluR5 antagonist that has been successfully applied in
preclinical [18,19] and clinical PET research studies [20,21].
A
100
80
60
40
20
0
8m Reactor
4m Reactor
Temperature (oC)
B
50
40
30
20
10
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Total Rate (µL/min)
Fig. 2. Temperature variation optimisation for the radiofluorination of 4-
[
18F]fluorobenzyl azide (6). Conditions (n = 1, 4 m reactor; n = 3, 8 m reactor):
(A) 16 mg/mL 5, 12 mg/mL [18F]TEAF/TEAB, DMF, 60
12 mg/mL [18F]TEAF/TEAB, DMF, 200 8C, 4 m reactor.
mL/min; (B) 16 mg/mL 5,
Scheme 2. Radiosynthesis of 2-[18F]fluoro-1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (4).