Synthesis, in Vitro Evaluation, and Radiolabeling of Fluorinated Puromycin Analogues: Potential Candidates for PET Imaging of Protein Synthesis

There is currently no ideal radiotracer for imaging of protein synthesis rate (PSR) by positron emission tomography (PET). Existing fluorine-18-labeled amino acid-based radiotracers predominantly visualize amino acid transporter processes, and in many cases they are not incorporated into nascent proteins at all. Others are radiolabeled with the short-half-life positron emitter carbon-11, which is rather impractical for many PET centers. Based on the puromycin (6) structural manifold, a series of 10 novel derivatives of 6 was prepared via Williamson ether synthesis from a common intermediate. A bioluminescence assay was employed to study their inhibitory action on protein synthesis, which identified the fluoroethyl analogue 7b as a lead compound. The fluorine-18 analogue was prepared via nucleophilic substitution of the corresponding tosylate precursor in a modest radiochemical yield of 2 ± 0.6% with excellent radiochemical purity (>99%) and showed complete stability over 3 h at ambient temperature.