Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 10, 2026

Monitoring On-Target Signaling Responses in Larval Zebrafish - Z-REX Unmasks Precise Mechanisms of Electrophilic Drugs and Metabolites
Published on: June 2, 2023
Friedel-Crafts-Type Electrophilic Radiocyanation of (Hetero)arenes
Casey J McCarthy1,2, Marius Müller2,3,4, Richard Ma1
1Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States.
Abstract:
Radiocyanation is an attractive approach to introduce carbon-11 into radiopharmaceuticals, as nitriles and other acyl moieties. This report describes a Friedel-Crafts-type electrophilic radiocyanation of (hetero)aryltrimethylgermanes and trimethylstannanes as well as a direct C-H radiocyanation of (hetero)arenes. This approach leverages the in situ oxidation of [11C]CN- to [11C]CNCl to enable electrophilic aromatic substitution pathways for accessing relevant 11C-aryl nitrile scaffolds. This method proceeds in short reaction times with readily available, shelf-stable reagents and enables radiocyanation of diverse substrates in good radiochemical yields.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution: Friedel–Crafts Alkylation of Benzene
Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution: Friedel–Crafts Acylation of Benzene
Limitations of Friedel–Crafts Reactions
Electrophiles
While a positive electrophile, like a proton, reacts due to its vacant, low-energy 1s orbital, the...
Radical Reactivity: Electrophilic Radicals
Regioselectivity of Electrophilic Additions-Peroxide Effect

