Automated radiosynthesis of [(18)F]ciprofloxacin

We transferred the previously published manual synthesis of [(18)F]ciprofloxacin (decay-corrected RCY: 5.5±1.0%) to an automated synthesis module (TRACERlab(TM) FXFDG, GE Healthcare) and observed a strong decrease in RCY (0.4±0.4%). When replacing the standard 15-mL glassy carbon reactor of the synthesis module with a 3-mL V-shaped borosilicate glass reactor a considerable improvement in RCY was observed. [(18)F]Ciprofloxacin was obtained in a RCY of 2.7±1.4% (n=23) with a specific activity at EOS of 1.4±0.5GBq/µmol in a synthesis time of 160min.