PET chemistry: Radiopharmaceuticals

Abstract

Although many radiolabelled compounds for PET imaging have been developed so far, only a few have reached the status of a clinically established and routinely used PET radiopharmaceutical. At the early stage of development, a reasonable medical indication is obviously fundamental for a PET radiopharmaceutical to be further considered as clinically relevant. However, besides a favourable in vivo behaviour and appropriate imaging characteristics, certain criteria have to be fulfilled, such as a fast, straightforward and reliable radiosynthesis; an assured stability of the label as well as of the compound itself and a good availability of a suitable precursor. In particular, the ease and reliability of the radiochemistry is critical as the radiopharmaceutical needs to be available on demand in sufficient amounts. The precursors play the decisive role in the radiochemical approach as they specify the radiosynthetic route. Furthermore, the accessibility of the appropriate precursors is important for the applicability of radiosynthesis. Today, most precursors of the commonly used PET radiopharmaceuticals are commercially available and provided as approved medical products by suppliers such as ABX - advanced biochemical products GmbH Germany [1]. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.