Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Positron emission tomography (PET) relies on the rapid and efficient incorporation of fluorine-18 (18F) into molecular imaging agents, yet selecting appropriate radiofluorination conditions for new substrates remains ad hoc. Whilst decades of development have generated a wealth of experimentally validated reactions, this knowledge remains dispersed throughout literature and is difficult to exploit systematically for reaction planning. Here the chemputation-enabled arene radiofluorination, that is optimization and automated execution, captures both reaction transformations and the associated experimental conditions, providing a foundation for reasoning. Three complementary levels of analysis are implemented to interrogate the knowledge base, progressing from molecular similarity and electronic descriptors, through reaction abstraction based on bond–electron matrices, to AI-assisted contextual reasoning. The recommended literature precedents provide experimentally informed starting points that are subsequently refined using an optimization algorithm, enabling efficient exploration of multidimensional reaction-condition space beyond direct literature transfer and the optimized procedure is executed on a robotic platform using the Chemical Description Language (χDL), establishing a continuous digital workflow from literature knowledge to reproducible chemical synthesis. By integrating curated reaction knowledge, computational reasoning, experimental optimization, and digital execution, this work provides a general framework for data-driven radiofluorination that reduces experimental trial-and-error while improving reproducibility, safety, and scalability in PET tracer development.
Source: ChemRxiv
Institutions: University of Pavia, University of Glasgow
Language: English
Subfield: Organic Chemistry
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: 3DSynth: Design and fabrication of cartridges for digital chemical synthesis, Complex Chemical Systems Platform Exploring Inorganic Intelligence, University of Glasgow - to develop new low cost synthesis routes for key global health drugs by using a Chemputer thereby increasing access to these drugs in low and middl..., Ultra-Reduced Polyoxometalates as Electron-Coupled-Proton-Systems for Energy Storage, G6270679685, Chemobots: Digital-Chemical-Robotics to Convert Code to Molecules and Complex Systems, CHEMIFY: A System to Produce Universal Digital Chemical Synthesis, Programmable 'Digital' Synthesis for Discovery & Scale-up of Molecules, Clusters & Nanomaterials
OpenAlex ID: W7220901194