Design of Fluorinated Probes for Versatile Surface Functionalization and ¹⁹ F Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The development of multifunctional nanoplatforms for bioimaging and therapy has attracted extensive attention in recent decades. As an emerging magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique, ¹⁹ F MRI effectively complements the limit of ¹ H MRI owing to trace amount of ¹⁹ F atoms existing in the human body, affording high specificity. In this work, a novel molecule (CFO) containing hydrophilic fluorine fragments was synthesized using amino acids as starting materials, which could self-assemble into small nanoprobes via hydrophobic interactions of oleic acid moiety. The as-prepared nanoprobes displayed good relaxation performances thanks to the carboxylate group and sulfoxide group nearby. The nanoprobes successfully demonstrated its capacity for in-vivo ¹⁹ F MRI. In addition, CFO could be used as a general fluorine labeling agent for surface functionalization of nanoparticles, which provided a universal method for constructing water-soluble multifunctional nanoplatforms.