AUTHOR=Wang Yunze , Lin Qingyu , Shi Hongcheng , Cheng Dengfeng 

TITLE=Fluorine-18: Radiochemistry and Target-Specific PET Molecular Probes Design

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2022.884517

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2022.884517

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=The positron emission tomography (PET) molecular imaging technology has gained its universal value as a critical tool for assessing biological and biochemical processes in living subjects. The favorable chemical, physical and nuclear characteristics of fluorine-18 (97 % β+ decay, 109.8 min half-life, 635 keV positron energy) make it as an attractive nuclide for labeling and molecular imaging. 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose ([18F]FDG) is the most popular PET tracer. Besides that, a significant abundant proportion of PET probes in clinical use or under development containing a fluorine or fluoroalkyl substituent group. For the reasons given above, 18F-labeled radiotracer design has become a hot topic in radiochemistry and radiopharmaceutics development. Over the past decades, we have witnessed a rapid growth in 18F-labeling methods owing to the development of new reagents and catalysts. This review aims to provide an overview of strategies in radiosynthesis of [18F]fluorine-containing moieties  with nucleophilic [18F]fluorides since 2015.