
New method for developing tracers used for medical imaging - howard941
https://unclineberger.org/news/sciences-uncover-new-method-for-developing-tracers-used-for-medical-imaging/
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DoctorOetker
Has mercury ever been used as a radio tracer to trace thiomersal in the human
body? Many of the mercury isotopes pass through gold isotopes, so I would
expect gold to be relatively inert an inocuous, so it boils down to selecting
suitable mercury isotopes for suitable halflife timescales (the halflife of
the mercury isotope candidate to trace it, and the halflife of the gold
daughter nucleus so as to remain gold throughout the test subject's lifetime)

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yomly
For any chemists out there - the tl;dr is that the chemists worked out how to
break C-H bonds and replace them with a radioactively labeled C-18F bond for
on aromatic rings which is pretty cool.

The molecule can then be traced through the body using PET

It'll be interesting to know how labelling of F would affect the chemistry of
a compound - F is a fairly nice choice given that it is quite small so
shouldn't introduce much steric difference.

That said, F far more electronegative than H which could affect some degree of
solubility and possibly the reactive site if it is closely situated.

