Medical application of fundamental reaction chemistry: new methods to bring ¹⁸F into complex molecules

Fluorine can improve the properties of many molecules. But introduction of the fluorine substituent into organic molecules is hard. At the Organic chemistry Department of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung researchers use the ¹⁸F isotope of fluorine to develop better methods to make new molecules for positron-emission-tomography (PET). Medical PET imaging has great potential to aid in the development of diagnosis of various diseases.