A ‘click chemistry’ approach to the efficient synthesis of modified nucleosides and oligonucleotides for PET imaging

Different thymidine derivatives bearing either an iodoaryl moiety at the 5′ position or a dialkylsilyl group at the 3′ position have been efficiently synthesized as precursors for carbon-11 or fluorine-18 labeling, respectively. Furthermore, iodoarylated thymidine derivatives have been incorporated into oligonucleotides giving an original way to label them with carbon-11.