[carbonyl-¹¹C]Benzyl acetate: Automated radiosynthesis via Pd-mediated [¹¹C]carbon monoxide chemistry and PET measurement of brain uptake in monkey

[carbonyl-¹¹C]Benzyl acetate ([¹¹C]1) has been proposed as a potential agent for imaging glial metabolism of acetate to glutamate and glutamine with positron emission tomography. [¹¹C]1 was synthesized from [¹¹C]carbon monoxide, iodomethane and benzyl alcohol via palladium-mediated chemistry. The radiosynthesis was automated with a modified Synthia platform controlled with in-house developed Labview software. Under production conditions, [¹¹C]1 was obtained in 10% (n = 6) decay-corrected radiochemical yield from [¹¹C]carbon monoxide in >96% radiochemical purity and with an average specific radioactivity of 2415 mCi/μmol. The total radiosynthesis time was about 45 min. Peak uptake of radioactivity in monkey brain (SUV = 3.1) was relatively high and may be amenable to measuring uptake and metabolism of acetate in glial cells of the brain.