One‐step radiosynthesis of 4‐nitrophenyl 2‐[18F]fluoropropionate ([18F]NFP); improved preparation of radiolabeled peptides for PET imaging

The versatile 18F‐labeled prosthetic group, 4‐nitrophenyl 2‐[18F]fluoropropionate ([18F]NFP), was synthesized in a single step in 45 min from 4‐nitrophenyl 2‐bromopropionate, with a decay corrected radiochemical yield of 26.2% ± 2.2%. Employing this improved synthesis of [18F]NFP, [18F]GalactoRGD — the current ‘gold standard’ tracer for imaging the expression of αVβ3 integrin — was prepared with high specific activity in 90 min and 20% decay corrected radiochemical yield from [18F]fluoride. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd