PERFECTA – A Superfluorinated Molecular Probe for MRI

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has had a transformative effect in modern medicine. A hot-spot imaging technique utilises another nucleus (such as 19F) to provide a second coloured layer, information which is independent to the anatomical details provided by the grey-scale proton NMR image. PERFECTA is a contrast agent which contains 36 equivalent 19F atoms and shows a single intense resonance peak. It is very stable and is easily synthesised using a one-step reaction. The hydrocarbon polar core and four ether bonds might be subject to enzymatic degradation in vivo but seems to be protected by the fluorine shell. A muSR experiment will show how resistant this shell is to protonation (modelled by mu+ implantation) and the form of the relaxation (e.g any F-mu-F signal) will reveal the implantation site and the fluorine spin relaxation as a function of temperature will be studied.