Development of acetophenone ligands as potential neuroimaging agents for cholinesterases

[Display omitted] •Trifluoroacetophenones have high affinities for cholinesterases.•Chlorodifluoroacetophenones are suitable precursors for trifluoro derivatives.•Precursors are rapidly converted to trifluoro analogues via F− halogen exchange.•18F− incorporation can provide imaging agents for cholinesterases in Alzheimer pathology. Association of cholinesterase with β-amyloid plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer’s disease offers an opportunity to detect disease pathology during life. Achieving this requires development of radiolabelled cholinesterase ligands with high enzyme affinity. Various fluorinated acetophenone derivatives bind to acetylcholinesterase with high affinity, including 2,2,2-trifluoro-1-(3-dimethylaminophenyl)ethanone (1) and 1-(3-tert-butylphenyl)-2,2,2-trifluoroethanone (2). Such compounds also offer potential for incorporation of radioactive fluorine (18F) for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of cholinesterases in association with Alzheimer’s disease pathology in the living brain. Here we describe the synthesis of two meta-substituted chlorodifluoroacetophenones using a Weinreb amide strategy and their rapid conversion to the corresponding trifluoro derivatives through nucleophilic substitution by fluoride ion, in a reaction amenable to incorporating 18F for PET imaging. In vitro kinetic analysis indicates tight binding of the trifluoro derivatives to cholinesterases. Compound 1 has a Ki value of 7nM for acetylcholinesterase and 1300nM for butyrylcholinesterase while for compound 2 these values are 0.4nM and 26nM, respectively. Tight binding of these compounds to cholinesterase encourages their development for PET imaging detection of cholinesterase associated with Alzheimer’s disease pathology.