Radiosynthesis of a novel potential adenosine A3 receptor ligand, 5-ethyl 2,4-diethyl-3-((2-[18F]fluoroethyl)sulfanylcarbonyl) -6-phenylpyridine-5-carbox ylate ([18F]FE rate at SUPPY:2)

Since, to date very limited information on the distribution and function of the adenosine A3 receptor is available, the development of suitable radioligands is needed. Recently, we introduced [18F]FE rate at SUPPY (5-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl) 2,4-diethyl-3-(ethylsulfanylcarbonyl)-6-phenylpyridine-5-carboxylate) as the first PET-ligand for the A3R. Regarding the metabolic profile - this class of dialkylpyridines comprises two ester functions within one molecule, one carboxylic and one thiocarboxylic - one could expect carboxylesterases significantly contributing to cleavage and degradation. Therefore, our aim was the development of [18F]FE rate at SUPPY:2 (5-ethyl 2,4-diethyl-3-((2-[18F]fluoroethyl)sulfanylcarbonyl)-6-phenylpyridine -5-carbox ylate), the functional isomer containing the label at the thiocarboxylic moiety. For satisfactory yields in high scale radiosyntheses, a reaction temperature of 75 C has to be applied for at least 20 min using 20 mg/mL of precursor. So far, 6 complete high-scale radiosyntheses were performed. Starting from an average of 51.2 ± 21.8 GBq (mean±SD) [18F]fluoride, 5.8 ± 4.1 GBq of formulated [18F]FE rate at SUPPY:2 (12.0±5.4%, based on [18F]fluoride, not corrected for decay) were prepared in 75 ± 8 min. (orig.)