text: In the radiopharmaceutical industry, fluorine-18 is made using either a cyclotron or linear particle accelerator to bombard a target, usually of natural or enriched [O]water with high energy protons (typically ~18 MeV). The fluorine produced is in the form of a water solution of [F]fluoride, which is then used in a rapid chemical synthesis of various radio pharmaceuticals. The organic oxygen-18 pharmaceutical molecule is not made before the production of the radiopharmaceutical, as high energy protons destroy such molecules (radiolysis). Radiopharmaceuticals using fluorine must therefore be synthesized after the fluorine-18 has been produced.