Synthesis of N-(3-(4-[ 11 C]methylpiperazin-1-yl)-1-(5-methylpyridin-2-yl)-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine-3-carboxamide as a new potential PET agent for imaging of IRAK4 enzyme in neuroinflammation.

The reference standard N-(3-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)-1-(5-methylpyridin-2-yl)-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine-3-carboxamide (9) and its demethylated precursor N-(1-(5-methylpyridin-2-yl)-3-(piperazin-1-yl)-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)pyrazolo[1,5-α]pyrimidine-3-carboxamide (8) were synthesized from pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine-3-carboxylic acid and ethyl 2-cyanoacetate with overall chemical yield 13% in nine steps and 14% in eight steps, respectively. The target tracer N-(3-(4-[11 C]methylpiperazin-1-yl)-1-(5-methylpyridin-2-yl)-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine-3-carboxamide ([11 C]9) was prepared from its precursor with [11 C]CH3 OTf through N-[11 C]methylation and isolated by HPLC combined with SPE in 50-60% radiochemical yield, based on [11 C]CO2 and decay corrected to EOB. The radiochemical purity was >99%, and the specific activity at EOB was 370-1110 GBq/μmol.