Enantioselective Syntheses of No‐Carrier‐Added (n.c.a.) (S)‐4‐Chloro‐2‐ (18F)fluorophenylalanine and (S)‐(α‐Methyl)‐4‐chloro‐2‐(18F) fluorophenylalanine.

Abstract (S)-4-Chloro-2-fluorophenylalanine and (S)-(α-methy)-4-chloro-2-fluorophenylalanine were synthesized and labeled with no carrier added (n.c.a.) fluorine-18 through a radiochemical synthesis relying on the highly enantioselective reaction between 4-chloro-2-[18F]fluorobenzyl iodide and the lithium enolate of (2S)-1-(tert-butyloxycarbonyl)-2-(tert-butyl)-3-methyl-1,3-imidazolidine-4-one for (S)-4-chloro-2-[18F]fluorophenylalanine and (2S,5S)-1-(tert-butyloxycarbonyl)-2-(tert-butyl)-3,5-dimethyl-1,3-imidazolidine-4-one for (S)-(α-methyl) -4-chloro-2-[18F] fluorophenylalanine. Quantities of about 20–25 mCi were obtained at the end of sy nthesi s, ready for injection after hydrolysis and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) purification, with a radiochemical yield of 17%–20% corrected to the end of bombardment after a total synthesis time of 90–105 min from [18F] fluoride. The enantiomeric excesses were shown to be 97% or more for both molecules without chiral separation and the radiochemical and chemical purities were 98% or better.