Efficient Synthesis of Nicotinamide-1-¹⁵N for Ultrafast NMR Hyperpolarization Using Parahydrogen

Nicotinamide (a vitamin B3 amide) is one of the key vitamins as well as a drug for treatment of M. tuberculosis, HIV, cancer, and other diseases. Here, an improved Zincke reaction methodology is presented allowing for straightforward and scalable synthesis of nicotinamide-1-(15)N with an excellent isotopic purity (98%) and good yield (55%). (15)N nuclear spin label in nicotinamide-1-(15)N can be NMR hyperpolarized in seconds using parahydrogen gas. NMR hyperpolarization using the process of temporary conjugation between parahydrogen and to-be-hyperpolarized biomolecule on hexacoordinate iridium complex via the Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange (SABRE) method significantly increases detection sensitivity (e.g., >20,000-fold for nicotinamide-1-(15)N at 9.4 T) as has been shown by Theis T. et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 1404), and hyperpolarized in this fashion, nicotinamide-1-(15)N can be potentially used to probe metabolic processes in vivo in future studies. Moreover, the presented synthetic methodology utilizes mild reaction conditions, and therefore can also be potentially applied to synthesis of a wide range of (15)N-enriched N-heterocycles that can be used as hyperpolarized contrast agents for future in vivo molecular imaging studies.