fluorine-18

**Fluorine-18** is a radioactive isotope of fluorine used primarily as a radionuclide in nuclear medicine, especially in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. It has a half-life of about 110 minutes and decays via positron emission (β+ decay), enabling it to be incorporated into a variety of radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic purposes. Fluorine-18’s favorable physical properties allow the synthesis of PET radiotracers—most notably fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)—for sensitive detection and monitoring of cancer, neurological disorders (like Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy), cardiological conditions, and sites of infection or inflammation. Its ability to covalently bond to carbon makes it useful in developing many PET tracers, facilitating imaging of metabolic processes, receptor binding, and functional activity in tissues. Fluorine-18 tracers are produced in cyclotrons, usually by proton bombardment of ^18O-enriched water, and are supplied to hospitals or radiopharmacies for rapid radiolabeling and clinical use[2][4][5].

Other names

fluorine 18fluorine18fluorine-18F18F-18F 18^18F18F