fluoromisonidazole

Fluoromisonidazole is a small molecule radiopharmaceutical used primarily as a positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agent for detecting and quantifying hypoxia in tissues, especially solid tumors. It consists of a 2-nitroimidazole molecule labeled with the positron-emitter fluorine‑18. Upon entering viable cells, its nitro group is reduced; in normoxic cells, the reduced form can be reoxidized and diffuses out, but in hypoxic tumor cells, further oxidation cannot occur and the compound accumulates. This selective retention allows for non-invasive imaging of tissue hypoxia using PET scans. The mechanism involves bioreductive alkylation under low oxygen conditions, leading to covalent binding to cellular macromolecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins[4][5][6][8]. Fluoromisonidazole is considered the most widely used nitroimidazole-based tracer for this purpose.

Other names

1-(2-Hydroxy-3-fluoropropyl)-2-nitroimidazole1H-1-(3-[18F]fluoro-2-hydroxypropyl)-2-nitroimidazole