Fig. 1: Proof-of-concept that PPn colloids can be used in 31P MRI. | Nature Communications

Fig. 1: Proof-of-concept that PPn colloids can be used in 31P MRI.

From: Biodegradable polyphosphoester micelles act as both background-free 31P magnetic resonance imaging agents and drug nanocarriers

Fig. 1

(A) General chemical structure of PPn. The composition of the main and side chains can be adjusted to tune the properties. (B) Chemical structures of block copolymers and schematic of colloidal nanostructures PPnCORE that contains phosphorus-31 in the core (left) PPnSHELL (right) with phosphorus-31 in hydrophilic PPn shell, and the respective NMR spectra. The relaxation times were suitable for imaging (NMR spectroscopy in H2O/D2O 9:1 v:v, decoupled). (C) 31P MR images of aqueous dispersions of PPnSHELL and PPnCORE, (polymer concentration 4 wt.-% polymer correspond to 0.1 M 31P for PPnCORE and 0.05 M 31P in PPnSHELL), TAcq 17 min, FOV 20×20 mm2, matrix 64×64, 9.4 T.

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