Robotic production of 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose: a routine method of synthesis using tetrabutylammonium [18F]fluoride.

Using existing robotic hardware and software programs developed for the synthesis of several positron-emitting radiopharmaceuticals for PET imaging [Brodack et al. (1988) Appl. Radiat. Isot. 39, 689], the additional automated synthesis of 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (2-[18F]FDG) has been incorporated into our Zymate Laboratory Automation System. The robotic synthesis of 2-[18F]FDG took less than one week to implement, including the organization of software subroutines and construction of an additional heating station. The end of synthesis yield (12-17%) and radiochemical purity (96-99%) for the robotic preparation of 2-[18F]FDG is similar to that of the manual synthesis. This automated method uses anhydrous tetrabutylammonium [18F]fluoride as the reactive fluoride source in the labeling step. The procedure is a modification of the synthesis reported by Hamacher et al. [Hamacher et al. (1986) J. Nucl. Med. 27, 235].