Synthesis of carbon-11-labeled 5-HT6R antagonists as new candidate PET radioligands for imaging of Alzheimer's disease.

Carbon-11-labeled serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) 6 receptor (5-HT6R) antagonists, 1-[(2-bromophenyl)sulfonyl]-5-[11C]methoxy-3-[(4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)methyl]-1H-indole (O-[11C]2a) and 1-[(2-bromophenyl)sulfonyl]-5-methoxy-3-[(4-[11C]methyl-1-piperazinyl)methyl]-1H-indole (N-[11C]2a), 5-[11C]methoxy-3-((4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)methyl)-1-(phenylsulfonyl)-1H-indole (O-[11C]2b) and 5-methoxy-3-((4-[11C]methylpiperazin-1-yl)methyl)-1-(phenylsulfonyl)-1H-indole (N-[11C]2b), 1-((4-isopropylphenyl)sulfonyl)-5-[11C]methoxy-3-((4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)methyl)-1H-indole (O-[11C]2c) and 1-((4-isopropylphenyl)sulfonyl)-5-methoxy-3-((4-[11C]methylpiperazin-1-yl)methyl)-1H-indole (N-[11C]2c), 1-((4-fluorophenyl)sulfonyl)-5-[11C]methoxy-3-((4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)methyl)-1H-indole (O-[11C]2d) and 1-((4-fluorophenyl)sulfonyl)-5-methoxy-3-((4-[11C]methylpiperazin-1-yl)methyl)-1H-indole (N-[11C]2d), were prepared from their O- or N-desmethylated precursors with [11C]CH3OTf through O- or N-[11C]methylation and isolated by HPLC combined with SPE in 40-50% radiochemical yield, based on [11C]CO2 and decay corrected to end of bombardment (EOB). The radiochemical purity was >99%, and the molar activity (MA) at EOB was 370-740 GBq/μmol with a total synthesis time of ∼40-min from EOB.