Intramolecular Friedel-Crafts Acylation of [ 11 C]Isocyanates Enabling the Radiolabeling of [carbonyl- 11 C]DPQ.

α,β-aromatic lactams are highly abundant in biologically active molecules, yet so far they cannot be radiolabeled with short-lived (t 1/2 =20.3 min), β + -decaying carbon-11, which has prevented their application as positron emission tomography tracers. Herein, we developed, optimized, and applied a widely applicable, one-pot, quick, robust and automatable radiolabeling method for α,β-aromatic lactams starting from [ 11 C]CO 2 using the reagent POCl 3 ⋅AlCl 3 . This method proceeds via intramolecular Friedel-Crafts acylation of in situ formed [ 11 C]isocyanates and shows a broad substrate scope for the formation of five- and six-membered rings. We implemented our developed labeling method for the radiosynthesis of the potential PARP1 PET tracer [carbonyl- 11 C]DPQ in a clinical radiotracer production facility following the standards of the European Pharmacopoeia.