Automated radiosynthesis of [11C]MTP38—a phosphodiesterase 7 imaging tracer—using [11C]hydrogen cyanide for clinical applications.

We have developed 8‐amino‐3‐(2S,5R‐dimethyl‐1‐piperidyl)‐[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3‐a]pyrazine‐5‐[11C]carbonitrile ([11C]MTP38) as a positron emission tomography (PET) tracer for the imaging of phosphodiesterase 7. For the fully automated production of [11C]MTP38 routinely and efficiently for clinical applications, we determined the radiosynthesis procedure of [11C]MTP38 using [11C]hydrogen cyanide ([11C]HCN) as a PET radiopharmaceutical. Radiosynthesis of [11C]MTP38 was performed using an automated 11C‐labeling synthesizer developed in‐house within 40 min after the end of irradiation. [11C]MTP38 was obtained with a relatively high radiochemical yield (33 ± 5.5% based on [11C]CO2 at the end of irradiation, decay‐corrected, n = 15), radiochemical purity (>97%, n = 15), and molar activity (47 ± 12 GBq/μmol at the end of synthesis, n = 15). All the results of the quality control (QC) testing for the [11C]MTP38 injection complied with our in‐house QC and quality assurance specifications. We successfully automated the radiosynthesis of [11C]MTP38 for clinical applications using an 11C‐labeling synthesizer and sterile isolator. Taken together, this protocol provides a new radiopharmaceutical [11C]MTP38 suitable for clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]