Reliable preparation of [¹¹C]GR205171, a selective NK1 radioligands for noninvasive imaging

[¹¹C]GR205171, a Neurokinin 1 (NK1) radioligand, has been known as such a promising PET probe for quantitation of NK1 receptors in the brain by positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. First trial to synthesis of [¹¹C]GR205171 was to use methylene chloride and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide for preactivation of precursor, but the result was not successful in radiochemical yield (0~25%) and unreliable. 7 years later, inorganic base (Cs₂CO₃) was tried to achieve higher radiochemical yield, and they showed higher yield (~53%). We have tried to repeat the same synthesis method, but it did not work properly, because there were the lack of the detail procedure and still reproducibility in radiochemical yield. Here we report the improved synthesis protocol to produce [¹¹C]GR205171 in high yield via commercial automated synthesizer. The sonicator which combines water heating bath was used to activate desmethyl-GR205171, and this method showed high efficiency and reasonable yields (4.7 ± 0.6%, non-decay corrected from molecular sieve trap) with >95% radiochemical purity.