A procedure has been developed that allows the separation of 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose from 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-mannose employing selectively optimized ion-moderated partition chromatography. Both compounds can be obtained with a greater than 98% chemical and radiochemical purity in about one half-life of 18F. Both the alpha- and beta-anomers of both sugars were completely characterized by high-resolution 1H- and 19F-NMR spectroscopy. Various convenient preparation methods for 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose were compared.