1-Fluoro(18F)-1-deoxyephedrine (1-[¹⁸F]Fluoro-1-deoxyephedrine, [¹⁸F]FDE, FDE) is chemical compound, a radiotracer, used in positron emission tomography (PET) for in vivo imaging of biochemical processes in the brain. In its chemical structure, it is a fluorinated analogue of ephedrine, where the hydroxyl group in the beta position is replaced by the isotope fluorine-18. It has high lipophilicity, allowing it to penetrate the blood-brain barrier without hindrance, which was accompanied by high, uniform uptake by the brain (approximately 8% of the administered dose), similar to that observed for the structurally related analogue [11C]methamphetamine. The ephedrine (1R,2S) isomer is three times more effective than the pseudoephedrine (1S,2S) isomer, it is a metabolically stable compound.
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