Automated radiosynthesis of [11C]UCB‐J for imaging synaptic density by positron emission tomography

An automated radiosynthesis of carbon‐11 positron emission tomography radiotracer [11C]UCB‐J for imaging the synaptic density biomarker synaptic vesicle glycoprotein SV2A was established using Synthra RNPlus synthesizer. Commercially available trifluoroborate UCB‐J analogue was used as a radiolabelling precursor, and the desired radiolabelled product was isolated in 11 ± 2% (n = 7) nondecay corrected radiochemical yield and formulated as a 10% EtOH solution in saline with molar activities of 20 to 100 GBq/μmol. The method was based upon the palladium(0)‐mediated Suzuki cross‐coupling reaction and [11C]CH3I as a radiolabelling synthon. The isolated product was cGMP compliant as demonstrated by the results of quality control analysis.