One-Pot Two-Step Radiosynthesis of a New (18)F-Labeled Thiol Reactive Prosthetic Group and Its Conjugate for Insulinoma Imaging

[Image: see text] N-(2-(2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydro-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)ethyl)-6-fluoronicotinamide ([(18)F]FNEM), a novel prosthetic agent that is thiol-specific, was synthesized using a one-pot two-step strategy: (1) (18)F incorporation by a nucleophilic displacement of trimethylammonium substrate under mild conditions; (2) amidation of the resulting 6-[(18)F]fluoronicotinic acid 2,3,5,6-tetrafluorophenyl ester with N-(2-aminoethyl)maleimide trifluoroacetate salt. The radiosynthesis of the maleimide tracer was completed in 75 min from [(18)F]fluoride with 26 ± 5% decay uncorrected radiochemical yield, and specific activity of 19–88 GBq/μmol (decay uncorrected). The in vitro cell uptake, in vivo biodistribution, and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging properties of its conjugation product with [Cys(40)]-exendin-4 were described. [(18)F]FNEM-Cys(40)-exendin-4 showed specific targeting of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) positive insulinomas and comparable imaging results to our recently reported [(18)F]FPenM-Cys(40)-exendin-4.