Automated Synthesis of (rac)-, (R)-, and (S)-[18 F]Epifluorohydrin and Their Application for Developing PET Radiotracers Containing a 3-[18 F]Fluoro-2-hydroxypropyl Moiety.

To introduce the 3-[18 F]fluoro-2-hydroxypropyl moiety into positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracers, we performed automated synthesis of (rac)-, (R)-, and (S)-[18 F]epifluorohydrin ([18 F]1) by nucleophilic displacement of (rac)-, (R)-, or (S)-glycidyl tosylate with 18 F- and purification by distillation. The ring-opening reaction of (R)- or (S)-[18 F]1 with phenol precursors gave enantioenriched [18 F]fluoroalkylated products without racemisation. We then synthesised (rac)-, (R)-, and (S)- 2-{5-[4-(3-[18 F]fluoro-2-hydroxypropoxy)phenyl]-2-oxobenzo[d]oxazol-3(2H)-yl}-N-methyl-N-phenylacetamide ([18 F]6) as novel radiotracers for the PET imaging of translocator protein (18 kDa) and showed that (R)- and (S)-[18 F]6 had different radioactivity uptake in mouse bone and liver. Thus, (rac)-, (R)-, and (S)-[18 F]1 are effective radiolabelling reagents and can be used to develop PET radiotracers by examining the effects of chirality on their in vitro binding affinities and in vivo behaviour.