Transition metal mediated [(11) C]carbonylation reactions: recent advances and applications.

[(11) C]Carbon monoxide is undoubtedly a highly versatile radiolabelling synthon with many potential applications for the synthesis of positron emission tomography (PET) tracer molecules and functional groups, but why has it not found more applications in the PET radiolabelling arena? Today, (11) CO radiolabelling is still primarily viewed as a niche area; however, there are signs that this is beginning to change as some of the technical and chemistry challenges of producing, handling and reacting (11) CO are overcome. This mini review covers the more recent developments of (11) CO-labelling chemistry and is focused on palladium and rhodium-mediated carbonylation reactions that are growing in importance and finding wider application for carbon-11 PET radiotracer development.