o-BF3-Phosphonium pincer moieties in the design of delocalized lipophilic cation based tracers for PET imaging of mitochondrial function

International audience; Objectives: Delocalized lipophilic cations, such as triphenylphosphonium (TPP), are able to cross cell membranes and are known to accumulate in the mitochondria in a membrane potential (MMP) dependent manner. MMP is a reliable indicator of mitochondrial and, consequently, cell and tissue function, hence MMP dependent uptake radiotracers are of interest in cardiac and tumour imaging. Conventional C-18F radiofluorination methods require strict aprotic conditions and heating, moreover, C-18F fluorinated tracers may suffer from metabolic defluorination reducing the quality of the images. The objective of this study was to investigate a suitability of o-B[18F]F3-phosphoni…