Chemical black box

Radiopharmaceuticals labeled with short-lived positron emitters are given attention for clinical diagnosis, because they have high potentiality to study a dynamic metabolism of living organs, e. g., heart and brain. The short-lived radiopharmaceuticals have to be synthesized and qualified at a medical facility where they are to be used. There are, however, unavoidable problems, i. e., high level experts on the organic chemistry are required in the facility and are exposed to radiation. In order to solve these difficulties and to perform routine production of labeled compounds, we have developed an automatic synthesis system of radiopharmaceuticals. In section 1, we refer to the development backgrounds and the system composition. In section 2 and 3, we give an outline of the nuclear reaction and the production system of the gaseous labeled compounds. Finally, we describe the automatic synthesis system of radiopharmaceuticals in section 4. (author)