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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Preparation, Purification, and Characterization of Lanthanide Complexes for Use as Contrast Agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: July 21, 2011
Superparamagnetic gadonanotubes are high-performance MRI contrast agents
B Sitharaman1, K R Kissell, K B Hartman
1Department of Chemistry, the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, and the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology MS 60, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77251-1892, USA.
Abstract:
We report the nanoscale loading and confinement of aquated Gd3+n-ion clusters within ultra-short single-walled carbon nanotubes (US-tubes); these Gd3+n@US-tube species are linear superparamagnetic molecular magnets with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) efficacies 40 to 90 times larger than any Gd3+-based contrast agent (CA) in current clinical use.
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