An improved radiosynthesis of O-(2-18Ffluoroethyl)-O-(p-nitrophenyl)methylphosphonate: A first-in-class cholinesterase PET tracer

摘要

O-(2-Fluoroethyl)-O-(p-nitrophenyl) methylphosphonate >1 is an organophosphate cholinesterase inhibitor that creates a phosphonyl-serine covalent adduct at the enzyme active site blocking cholinesterase activity in vivo. The corresponding radiolabeled O-(2-[¹⁸F]fluoroethyl)-O-(p-nitrophenyl) methylphosphonate, >[¹⁸F]1, has been previously prepared and found to be an excellent positron emission tomography imaging tracer for assessment of cholinesterases in live brain, peripheral tissues, and blood. However, the previously reported >[¹⁸F]1 tracer synthesis was slow even with microwave acceleration, required high-performance liquid chromatography separation of the tracer from impurities, and gave less optimal radiochemical yields. In this paper, we report a new synthetic approach to circumvent these shortcomings that is reliant on the facile reactivity of bis-(O,Op-nitrophenyl) methylphosphonate, >2, with 2-fluoroethanol in the presence of DBU. The cold synthesis was successfully translated to provide a more robust radiosynthesis. Using this new strategy, the desired tracer, >[¹⁸F]1, was obtained in a non-decay–corrected radiochemical yield of 8 ± 2% (n = 7) in >99% radiochemical and >95% chemical purity with a specific activity of 3174 ± 345 Ci/mmol (EOS). This new facile radiosynthesis routinely affords highly pure quantities of >[¹⁸F]1, which will further enable tracer development of OP cholinesterase inhibitors and their evaluation in vivo.