Use of capillary electrophoresis for the determination of impurities in preparations of fluorine-18 labelled PET radiopharmaceuticals.

Fluorine-18 labelled radiotracers are the most common diagnostic agents employed in positron emission tomography (PET). Despite well-established quality control (QC) procedures, introduction of new synthetic methods demands continuous development of analytical methodology. Here we propose capillary electrophoresis (CE) as a simple, fast and cost-efficient analytical method, allowing for the evaluation of potentially toxic impurities, including transition metals, in the formulated preparations. Method developed was applied in routine QC procedures for several clinically relevant radiotracers.