[1] Tritiated CFT is frequently used to map binding of novel ligands to the DAT, although the drug also has some SERT affinity.

CFT was found to be particularly useful for this application as a normal fluorine atom can be substituted with the radioactive isotope 18F which is widely used in Positron emission tomography.

Another radioisotope-substituted analog [11C]WIN 35,428 (where the carbon atom of either the N-methyl group, or the methyl from the 2-carbomethoxy group of CFT, has been replaced with 11C) is now more commonly used for this application, as it is quicker and easier in practice to make radiolabelled CFT by methylating nor-CFT or 2-desmethyl-CFT than by reacting methylecgonidine with parafluorophenylmagnesium bromide, and also avoids the requirement for a licence to work with the restricted precursor ecgonine.

In August 2010, some media sources claimed that the designer drug Ivory Wave contained WIN 35428.

[3] However, samples of Ivory Wave have been found to contain MDPV,[4] so the legitimacy of these claims remains unclear.