[11C]-dimethylamine as a labeling agent for PET biomarkers

The dimethylamine functional group is a common component of the chemical structure of numerous drugs. The most commonly used synthetic route for carbon-11 labeled radiopharmaceuticals which contain the dimethylamine group is via C-11 methylation of the monomethyl amine precursors. Here we describe the radiosynthesis of [11C]dimethylamine (1) and its application in the direct labeling of several positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agents by-passing the preparation of the monomethyl amine precursors.