MRI Contrast Agents Based on Conjugated Polyelectrolytes and Dendritic Polymers

Three complexes of gadolinium‐based on dentritic molecules are reported as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. Their ligands feature four carboxylate groups, which contribute to good water solubility and a strong combination with metal ions. As a new attempt, coupling polymerization is carried out to make a combination of conjugated polyelectrolytes and dendrimers for MRI contrast agents. For comparison, mononuclear and binuclear complexes are also reported. The investigation suggests that the contrast agent with the newly designed macromolecular skeleton provides higher longitudinal relaxivity value (36.2 mm −1s−1) and more visible enhancement in in vivo and in vitro MR images than the small molecular ones. In addition, extremely low cytotoxicity and main clearance via hepatobiliary are confirmed, which reduces the deterioration of chronic kidney disease. All the results indicate that these three complexes are generally applicable as promising clinical contrast agents. Coupling polymerization is carried out to make a combination of conjugated polyelectrolytes and dendrimers for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents, which presents a higher relaxivity value (36.2 mm −1 s−1) and stronger contrast in MR images than small molecular ones with similar ligands with four N and O atoms and carboxylate groups. Low cytotoxicity and clearance via hepatobiliary are also confirmed for these complexes.