Radioiodination of nicotine with specific activity high enough for mapping nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.

A novel radiochemical method is presented to synthesize 5-[123I/125I/131I]-dL-nicotine by radioiodination of 5-bromonicotine. Radioiodination of the precursor 5-dL-bromonicotine was achieved using a copper (I)-assisted nucleophilic exchange reaction in the presence of reducing agent. The reaction conditions were optimized by varying pH, concentration of Sn(II) salt, ascorbic acid, Cu(I)chloride and reaction temperature.