Hydroxyphenyl-2-nitroethane

Hosel, W., Berlin, J., Hanzlik, T.N. and Conn, E.E. (1985) In vitro biosynthesis of l-(4 -hydroxyphenyl)-2-nitroethane and production of cyanogenic compounds in osmotically stressed cell suspension cultures of Eschscholtzia californica. Planta, 166, 176-81. 

The radiosynthesis starts with the nucleophilic F-fluorination of 2-benzyloxy-4-formyl-A/,A/,A/-trimethylanilinium trifluoromethanesulfonate or 5-benzyloxy-2-nitrobenzaldehyde. Subsequent condensation with nitroethane yielded the corresponding 2-nitro-1-propanol derivatives. Reduction of the nitro moiety and deprotection provided the four stereoisomers of " F-labeled 2-amino-1-(4-fluoro-3-hydroxyphenyl)-1-propanol and 2-amino-1-(2-fluoro-5-hydroxyphe-nyl)-1-propanol, respectively. 4-p F]FMR was isolated from the 2-amino-1-(4-fluoro-3-hydroxyphenyl)-1-propanol stereoisomer mixture via semipreparative HPLC and additional chiral HPLC for enantiomeric resolution. In a similar manner enantiomeric pure 6-p F]FMR was obtained. From a synthetic point of view, 4-p F]FMR appeared to be the more promising candidate for PET investigations due to higher radiochemical yields. The main advantage of the nucleophilic approach over the electrophilic methods is the obtained high specific radioactivity (56-106 GBq/pmol) that is desired for safe use in humans with tracer doses far beyond the pharmacological level [173]. 

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