A Franco-Belgian team has developed a gallium-¹⁸F complex for PET scans that can also be attached to biomolecules. It could be turned into an 18F radiolabelling kit, they write in Chemistry A European Journal.

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a medical technique developed to better study tissue and has applications in cancer research and cardiology, among others. It works by trapping positrons, charged particles that emit radioactive substances, of which fluorine-18 (¹⁸F) is the most commonly used. Current fluorine-labelled radiotracers work well, but they are made by organic synthesis in a way that is incompatible with biomolecules, whereas the field of oncology is moving in a direction that uses biomolecules.

Attempts to find a milder production process using aluminium complexes are well under way, but high temperatures and relatively acidic conditions are still required. Fabienne Dioury, Marc Port and colleagues at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers in Paris and the Université de Mons (B) have found an alternative in the form of a gallium complex.