Design and synthesis of novel 18F-radiolabelled glucosamine derivatives for cancer imaging

The radiosynthesis of glucosamine and similar analogues would be of great interest due to their role in the biochemical synthesis of glycosylated proteins and lipids. This biochemistry can be exploited for visualisation of cancer cells via molecular imaging. This report details the synthesis of a number of 18F-labelled glucosamine derivatives and evaluation of their tumour uptake and normal tissue distribution in vivo in a mouse model of cancer by positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.