Eric A Tanifum1,2, Chandresh Patel1, Robia Pautler2, and Ananth Annapragada1,2
1Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States, 2Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
Perfluorocarbons and perfluoropolyethers are currently the major molecules of choice in 19F MRI contrast agents. These molecules generally have magnetically diverse 19F atoms and are very hydrophobic. The later characteristic greatly hinders easy access to stable formulations for broad usage and the former generates chemical shift artifacts which result in blurred images. We have synthesized several hydrophilic organofluorine molecules all bearing magnetically equivalent 19F atoms and demonstrated that they are amenable to facile liposome nanoparticle formulation protocols. The resulting particles are highly stable and present a great potential for diverse applications as 19F MRI molecular imaging probes.
