title: Gd-Dots with Strong Ligand-Water Interaction for Ultrasensitive Magnetic Resonance Renography.
abstract: Magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents with both significantly enhanced relaxivity and minimal safety risk are of great importance for sensitive clinical diagnosis, but have rarely been reported. Herein, we present a simple strategy to improve relaxivity by introducing surface ligands with strong interaction to water molecules. As a proof of concept, NaGdF4nanoparticles (NPs) capped by poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) show superior relaxivity to those capped by polyethylenimine and polyethylene glycol, which is attributed to the strong hydrogen-bond capacity of PAA to water molecules as revealed by theoretical calculation. Furthermore, benefiting from PAA and ultrasmall particle size, Gd-dots, namely PAA-capped GdOF NPs (2.1 ± 0.2 nm), are developed as a high-performance contrast agent, with a remarkable ionic relaxivity of ∼75 mM-1s-1in albumin solution at 0.5 T. These Gd-dots also exhibit efficient renal clearance with <3% of injected amount left 12 h post-injection. Ultrasensitive MR renography achieved with Gd-dots strongly suggests their great potential for practical applications.
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, PKU-HKU Joint Laboratory in Rare Earth Materials and Bioinorganic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Yu
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Peking University First Hospital , Beijing 100034, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety and CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China , Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Jinglong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, PKU-HKU Joint Laboratory in Rare Earth Materials and Bioinorganic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Xin-Yu
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, PKU-HKU Joint Laboratory in Rare Earth Materials and Bioinorganic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Lin-Dong
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1559-8207
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, PKU-HKU Joint Laboratory in Rare Earth Materials and Bioinorganic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Nai-Xiu
authors.initials: NX
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, PKU-HKU Joint Laboratory in Rare Earth Materials and Bioinorganic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, PKU-HKU Joint Laboratory in Rare Earth Materials and Bioinorganic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Shuo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Peking University First Hospital , Beijing 100034, China.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, PKU-HKU Joint Laboratory in Rare Earth Materials and Bioinorganic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Sivakumar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malaisamy
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, PKU-HKU Joint Laboratory in Rare Earth Materials and Bioinorganic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Ling-Dong
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Peking University First Hospital , Beijing 100034, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety and CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China , Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Chunying
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6027-0315
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications, PKU-HKU Joint Laboratory in Rare Earth Materials and Bioinorganic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Chun-Hua
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0581-2951
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yan
keywords: contrast agents; ligand effects; magnetic resonance imaging; nanoparticles; rare earths