Radiosynthesis of a carbon-11-labeled AMPAR allosteric modulator as a new PET radioligand candidate for imaging of Alzheimer’s disease

To develop PET tracers for imaging of Alzheimer’s disease, a new carbon-11-labeled AMPAR allosteric modulator 4-cyclopropyl-7-(3-[11C]methoxyphenoxy)-3,4-dihydro-2H-benzo[e][1,2,4]thiadiazine 1,1-dioxide ([11C]8) has been synthesized. The reference standard 4-cyclopropyl-7-(3-methoxyphenoxy)-3,4-dihydro-2H-benzo[e][1,2,4]thiadiazine 1,1-dioxide (8) and its corresponding desmethylated precursor 4-cyclopropyl-7-(3-hydroxyphenoxy)-3,4-dihydro-2H-benzo[e][1,2,4]thiadiazine 1,1-dioxide (9) were synthesized from 4-methoxyabiline and chlorosulfonyl isocyanate in eight and nine steps with 3% and 1% overall chemical yield, respectively. The target tracer [11C]8 was prepared from the precursor 9 with [11C]CH3OTf through O-[11C]methylation and isolated by HPLC combined with SPE in 10–15% radiochemical yield, based on [11C]CO2 and decay corrected to end of bombardment (EOB). The radiochemical purity was >99%, and the molar activity (AM) at EOB was 370–740 GBq/μmol with a total synthesis time of 35–40-minutes from EOB.