Vacuum ultraviolet photon–mediated production of [18F]F2

The chemistry of F2 and its derivatives are amenable to facile aliphatic or aromatic substitution, as well as electrophilic addition. The main limitation in the use of [18 F]F2 for radiopharmaceutical synthesis is the low specific activity achieved by the traditional methods of production. The highest specific activities, 55 GBq/μmol, for [18 F]F2 have been achieved so far by using electrical discharge in the post-target production of [18 F]F2 gas from [18 F]CH3 F. We demonstrate that [18 F]F2 is produced by illuminating a gas mixture of neon/F2 /[18 F]CH3 F with vacuum ultraviolet photons generated by an excimer laser. We tested several illumination chambers and production conditions. The effects of the initial amount of [18 F]F- , amount of carrier F2 , and number of 193-nm laser pulses at constant power were evaluated regarding radiochemical yield and specific activity. The specific activity attained for [18 F]F2 -derived [18 F]NFSi was 10.3 ± 0.9 GBq/μmol, and the average radiochemical yield over a wide range of conditions was 6.7% from [18 F]F- . The production can be improved by optimization of the synthesis device and procedures. The use of a commercially available excimer laser and the simplicity of the process can make this method relatively easy for adaptation in radiochemistry laboratories.