Detailed understanding of the NMR dynamics and MRI performance of hydrophilic polymers hold the key to breakthroughs in sensing and tagging strategies for diverse biomedical applications. To correlate such parameters with material structures, a series of discrete oligoacrylates with fluorinated chain ends were prepared through controlled polymerization and automated separation techniques. We found 19F NMR to offer advantages over 13C NMR for elucidating the stereochemistry of the partly-fluorinated oligomers. Importantly, the oligomer size strongly influences their NMR dynamics (T1 and T2 relaxation times) and MR imaging properties, with higher signal-to-noise ratio observed for longer chain length. This first identification of structure-performance relationship provides an exciting entry for the development of metal-free, high performance 19F MR imaging agents.

Elucidating the impact of dispersity on the 19F NMR dynamics and MRI performance of fluorinated oligomers

256th National Meeting (2018)

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