19F applications in drug development and imaging – a review

To control drugs in vivo, new approaches are needed. Considerable progress has been made towards the applications of fluorine (19F) in pharmacotherapy in this regard. To date, many authors have showed that by using 19F labelled drugs and non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques together, drug biodistribution can be tracked. This review presents methods for 19F incorporation into pharmaceuticals by forming C–F bonds and drug fluorine oil-water emulsions. Inadequate drug delivery is a major cause of drug resistance, which can be improved using approaches discussed herein aided by 19F MRI.