The focus of this new book is for medicinal chemists on the chemical agents that have been used, or might be required in the future, and the methods of synthesis for inserting the reporter groups. Medicinal chemists need to know the critical issues involved in using such chemical agents with regard to the biological applications - for instance - what properties are needed chemically and why? The topics covered in the book are: PET, SPECT, contrast agents, radioimaging/radionuclide conjugates, receptor mapping, small animal imaging (eg. WBAR - whole body autoradiography); photoinduced labelling, as well as chapters on the physical techniques used including: NMR, mass spectrometry and Xray. A key reference for academics, postgraduates, researchers, industrialists and professionals working in or joining this field.

Martin Braddock is a Senior Principal Scientist at AstraZeneca with extensive experience in drug discovery from target identification to lead optimisation. Dr Braddock has over 26 years research and management experience (including 15 years in Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery (AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline) and 11 years holding academic positions, including 4 years as a Royal Society University Research Fellow at Oxford University. His research experience includes metabolic diseases, vascular, respiratory and inflammatory/autoimmune disease, HIV and AIDS research, alzheimer's, soft and hard tissue repair and regeneration. Elected Fellow of the Society of Biology in recognition of contribution to biological sciences. Invited Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicne.

Overview; PET radiochemistry and PET ligand design and radiochemistry; SPECT radiochemistry; SPECT radiochemistry and ligand design; Design and synthesis of contrast agents - MRI and X-ray; Whole body autoradiograpgy; Optical imaging