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Our aim was to demonstrate the potential of exploiting simultaneous changes in coordination geometry and spin state in fluorinated Ni(II) complexes as an avenue for 19F magnetic-resonance (MR)-based pH sensing. Crystal structures were studied using an Agilent Technologies SuperNova Dual Source diffractometer. Solution magnetic moment was determined using Evan’s method. MR images were collected on a 7.0-T MR scanner equipped with a quadrature 19F volume coil. NiL1 and NiL2 were synthesized; crystallographic and spectroscopic data supported NiL1 as being diamagnetic and NiL2 as being paramagnetic. In aqueous solution, ligand dissociation from Ni(II) center was observed for both complexes at around pH 6, precluding their use as reversible pH sensors. The two complexes have distinct 19F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals in terms of both chemical shift and relaxation times, and selective imaging of the two complexes was achieved with no signal interference using two 19F MRI pulse sequences. The significant difference in the chemical shift and relaxation times between NiL1 and NiL2 allowed selective imaging of these species using 19F MRI. While NiL1 and NiL2 were not stable to acidic environments, this report lays the framework for development of improved ligand scaffolds that stably coordinate Ni(II) in acidic aqueous solution and act as agents for ratiometric pH mapping by 19F MRI.

Nat. Chem. Biol. 4, 168–175 (2008); published online 15 February 2008; corrected after print 26 June 2008 In the version of this article initially published, the chemical structures for S3 and RS2 in Figure 6 were incorrect. The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.