USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Alfred Wolf and Joanna Fowler. Together, they synthesized 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG). The compound is one of the most widely used radiotracers today. FDG was tested in the Mark IV scanner, establishing its safety and efficiency, and paving the way for imaging brain metabolism in humans.

Detailed explanation-2: -FDG was first synthesized in the Czech Republic by Pacák and Černý in 1968 (1). Ten years later, FDG was prepared in a positron-emitting form with the isotope 18F by Ido et al (2) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, NY) and used for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.

Detailed explanation-3: -Edward J. Hoffman, 62, UCLA professor of nuclear medicine who with Michael E. Phelps invented the positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, which helps detect cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses, died July 1 at UCLA Medical Center of liver cancer.

Detailed explanation-4: -F–FDG can be synthesised by either electrophilic fluorination or nucleophilic fluorination reaction. Nucleophilic fluorination using mannose triflate as precursor and Kryptofix or tetrabutylammonium salts (TBA) is widely used because of higher yield and shorter reaction time.