Direct no-carrier-added 18F-labelling of arenes via nucleophilic substitution on aryl(2-thienyl)iodonium salts

For in vivo imaging of molecular processes via positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracers of high specific activity are demanded. In case of the most commonly used positron emitter fluorine-18, this is only achievable with no-carrier-added [18F]fluoride, which implies nucleophilic methods of 18F-substitution. Whereas electron deficient aromatic groups can be labelled in one step using no-carrier-added [18F]fluoride, electron rich 18F-labelled aromatic molecules are only available by multi-step radiosyntheses or carrier-added electrophilic reactions. Here, diaryliodonium salts represent an alternative, since they have been proven as potent precursor for a direct nucleophilic 18F-introduction into aromatic molecules. Furthermore, as known from non-radioactive studies, the highly electron rich 2-thienyliodonium leaving group leads to a high regioselectivity in nucleophilic substitution reactions. Consequently, a direct nucleophilic no-carrier-added 18F-labelling of electron rich arenes via aryl(2-thienyl)iodonium precursors was developed in this work. The applicability of direct nucleophilic 18F-labelling was examined in a systematic study on eighteen aryl(2-thienyl)iodonium salts. As electron rich precursors the ortho-, meta- and para-methoxyphenyl(2-thienyl)iodonium bromides, iodides, tosylates and triflates were synthesised. In addition, para-substituted (R=BnO, CH3, H, Cl, Br, I) aryl(2-thienyl)iodonium bromides were prepared as precursors with a systematically varying electron density. As first approach, the general reaction conditions of the nucleophilic 18F-substitution procedure were optimised. The best conditions for direct nucleophilic no-carrier-added 18F-labelling via aryl(2-thienyl)iodonium salts were found with dimethylformamide as solvent, a reaction temperature of 130±3 C and 25 mmol/l as concentration of the precursor. (orig.)