Evaluation of formamidine sulfinic acid and other reducing agents for use in the preparation of Tc-99m labeled radiopharmaceuticals.

Various reducing agents have been evaluated for their potential usefulness in the preparation of 99mTc labeled radiopharmaceuticals for use in nuclear medicine. Adequate labeling of various radiopharmaceuticals was accomplished using formamidine sulfinic acid. Nitrogen-purging of solutions is not required, which is an advantage for in-house preparation. Tagging requires heating, however, so heat-labile material cannot be used. Various compounds that could not be labeled when stannous chloride was used, could be tagged with 99mTc when formanidine sulfinic acid was used as the reducing agent.