Metal ions have a key role in diagnostic imaging and offer significant advantages/ opportunities compared to organic structures.
Technetium and gadolinium are in widespread clinical use as SPECT and MR contrast agents and new optical techniques for biological analyses are under development. New agents are required to facilitate understanding of biochemical processes and to improve detection and treatment of disease.
To access the largest range of properties and offer full capabilities to tune imaging properties requires the use of the whole of the periodic table and in particular metal ions, making this a key current and future area of interest for inorganic chemists.
MR imaging probes