¹⁵N-Azides as practical and effective tags for developing long-lived hyperpolarized agents.

Area of Science:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Chemical Physics
• Molecular Imaging

Background:

• Azide moieties are unique nitrogen-containing molecules.
• Hyperpolarized magnetic resonance imaging (HP-MRI) requires efficient spin storage tags.
• Current HP-MRI tags have limitations in lifetime and polarization levels.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate nitrogen-15 labeled azides as novel tags for HP-MRI.
• To assess the hyperpolarization lifetimes and levels of azide-containing molecules.
• To demonstrate the potential of 15N-azides as universal tags for various biomolecules.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of (15N)3-azide and single (15N)-azide containing molecules.
• Measurement of hyperpolarization lifetimes and polarization levels at 1 Tesla.
• Application of 15N-azide tags to biologically relevant molecules like choline, glucose, amino acids, and drug derivatives.

Main Results:

• (15N)3-azide demonstrated long hyperpolarization lifetimes (up to 9.8 min) and high polarization levels (up to 11.6%) in water.
• Single (15N)-labeled azides also exhibited effective and long-lived hyperpolarization.
• Successful tagging of diverse biologically important molecules was achieved.

Conclusions:

• 15N-labeled azides are powerful spin storage agents for hyperpolarization.
• These azide tags offer a versatile platform for advanced HP-MRI applications.
• 15N-azides show great potential as universal tags for nuclear magnetic resonance imaging.