Design of Fluorinated Probes for Versatile Surface Functionalization and 19F 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.