Efficient radiosynthesis of carbon-11 labelled uncharged Thioflavin T derivatives using [11C]methyl triflate for beta-amyloid imaging in Alzheimer's Disease with PET.

The synthesis of carbon-11 amino function labelled uncharged Thioflavin T derivatives is known to be performed by reaction of the demethyl-precursors with [11C]methyl iodide but the labelling yields are only mediocre. The use of [11C]methyl triflate improved the radiochemical yield of three potential beta-amyloid imaging PET-radiotracers significantly. Performance of the labelling reaction by reacting the corresponding precursor molecules with [11C]methyl triflate for 1 min at 80 degrees C led to radiochemical yields of 44+/-10% (n=5) for [11C]6-Me-BTA-1, 68+/-4% (n=10) for [11C]BTA-1 and 58+/-2% (n=5) for [11C]6-OH-BTA-1 with respect to [11C]methyl triflate. In production runs (60 min, 50 microA) up to 6500 MBq (mean: 4000+/-1900 MBq) of [11C]6-Me-BTA-1, 7900 MBq (mean: 6000+/-1000 MBq) of [11C]BTA-1 and 7100 MBq (mean: 6300+/-600 MBq) of [11C]6-OH-BTA-1 could be obtained ready for intravenous injection. The radiochemical purity was >95% with specific activities in the range of 80-120 GBq/micromol (EOS) within a total synthesis time of less than 40 min after EOB.