(R)- and (S)-(18)F-labeled 2-arylbenzofurans with improved pharmacokinetics as β-amyloid imaging probes.

A new class of optical isomers of 2-arylbenzofuran derivatives were synthesized and evaluated as potential β-amyloid plaques imaging agents. Both lipophilicity and signal-to-noise ratio were significantly improved by adding a chiral hydroxyl group to 1-fluoro-3-(oxidanyl)propan-2-ol side chain. These derivatives displayed moderate to high binding affinity towards Aβ1-42 aggregates. Four tracers possessing potent binding affinity (Ki < 30 nM) were chosen for further investigation. In in vitro autoradiography studies, the four selected probes showed effective binding to Aβ plaques in Tg mouse and AD human brain tissue after labeled by (18)F. The purified enantiomers displayed apparent discrepancy in biodistribution experiments in normal mice, for (S)-enantiomers provided rather faster clearance than (R)-enantiomers. All in all, (S)-[(18)F]17 (Ki = 14.6 nM) with excellent pharmacokinetics (brain2 min = 8.60% ID/g, brain2 min/brain60 min = 14.1) deserves further evaluation.