Recent advances in [11C]HCN radiochemistry and applications to (pre)clinical PET imaging

The identification of efficient radiochemical methods has been a long-standing challenge in the development and production of positron emission tomography (PET) tracers. Carbon-11, being a short-lived (t 1/2 = 20.4 min) isotope, offers a unique set of challenges for regulatory-compliant radiochemistry with exceptional time constraints. Simultaneously, the diversity of radiochemical scaffolds available from carbon-11 maintains its importance in clinical PET radiosynthesis. [ 11 C]Hydrogen cyanide ([ 11 C]HCN) represents a unique example of a versatile 11 C-synthon that can deliver broad chemical diversity for the synthesis of 11 C-labeled PET radiopharmaceuticals. This review article describes recent investigations with [ 11 C]HCN including its production, radiochemistry, and use in developing new PET radiopharmaceuticals.