title: Synthesis of colloidal aqueous suspensions of a layered gadolinium hydroxide: a potential MRI contrast agent.
abstract: A layered gadolinium hydroxychloride (LGdH), [Gd2(OH)5(H2O)x]Cl, was synthesized from an aqueous solution of GdCl3.6H2O. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) studies showed that this compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic structure (a = 12.88(4) A, b = 7.30(2) A, and c = 8.46(3) A) which is isostructural with [Eu2(OH)5(H2O)x]Cl. Interestingly, this layered material was readily dispersed and led to a stable colloidal nanosheet in aqueous medium. The obtained colloidal solutions were characterized by the evaluation of their stability in acidic solution, their in vitro cytotoxicity, and their magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) relaxation properties. It is reported that the relaxometry analysis of LGdH suspensions exhibits a sufficient contrast effect for T1 weighted magnetic resonance imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry & Advanced Material Sciences, College of Environment and Applied Chemistry, Kyung Hee University, Gyeonggi-do, 446-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Byung-Il
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyung Sig
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jung Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: In Su
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Song-Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Byeon