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Nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion (NMRD) profiles and ESR linewidths have been measured for a series of neutral Gd(3+)-triazamacrocyclic complexes and compared with previous data for the simplest member of the macrocyclic triaza series, Gd(NOTA), and for the widely studied linear triaza complex, Gd(DTPA)2-. Water proton relaxivities and their temperature dependence were found to vary widely with the size of the triaza macrocycle and the identity of the side-chain chelating groups. The number of rapidly exchanging water molecules directly coordinated to the Gd3+ ion (q) was found to vary from 2 to 4 for eight of the ten complexes examined and a linear relationship between the 50-MHz relaxivity value and integral values of q is presented for this series of complexes. tau s values derived from ESR linewidths for some of the complexes are in reasonable agreement with those derived from their NMRD profiles; however, those complexes which either tended to form aggregates in solution or gave evidence for multiple averaged solution structures showed broad, near Lorentzian linewidths which were clearly not dominated by the electron spin relaxation time (tau s).

The magnetic field dependence of the solvent water proton longitudinal relaxation rate 1/T1 (the NMRD profile) has been measured for solutions of chelates of Gd3+ and Mn2+ ions with two different polyaza macrocyclic ligands: 1, 4, 7-triazacyclononane-N, N′, N″,-triacetic acid (NOTA) and 1, 4, 7, 10-tetraazacyclododecane-N, N′, N″, N‴,-tetraacetic acid (DOTA). Studies were carried out mainly near physiological pH, but the pH dependence was also examined in some cases. The results are compared with published data for complexes of Gd3+ and Mn2+ ions with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and diethylenetriaminepentaacetie acid (DTPA). Competition experiments for the NOTA and DOTA chelates with EDTA and DTPA were also performed. It is found that, over the field range in which NMR imaging is currently being done, different symmetries of otherwise similar chemical ligands can alter 1/T1 of solvent protons by factors of up to three. The ligand environment can influence the relaxation times of the electronic spin moments of the ions, as well as their coordination number, thereby changing both the inner and outer sphere contributions to the relaxivities of the complexes. The relevance of these results to questions of efficiency and toxicity of these chelates as agents for enhancement of contrast in NMR images is discussed. © 1986 Academic Press, Inc.

Gd(DTPA)2− (diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid) and the polyaza macrocyclic Gd(DOTA)− (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N, N′,N″,N′″) are paradigms of general purpose paramagnetic complexes useful for enhancing contrast in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It is of both fundamental and practical interest to determine how one might modify the chemical structure of these chelate complexes to improve their utility for MRI in specific circumstances. In the present work, we investigated polyaza methylene phosphonate complexes of Gd3+ ions to compare their NMRD profiles with those of their carboxylate analogs and with Gd(DTPA)2−. We find that the number q of exchangeable water molecules coordinated directly to the Gd3+ ions tends to be smaller in the phosphonates, in principle reducing their utility in MRI. However, these phosphonates have a tendency to oligomerize, and the resulting decrease in rotational mobility of the paramagnetic oligomers increases their relaxivity at higher fields, offsetting the effect of decreases in q. In particular, Gd(DOTRP)3− (1,5,9-triazacyclododecane N, N′,N″,-tris (methylenephosphonic acid) would be an increasingly effective contrast agent above ∼ 10 MHz if the oligomerization was stable in vivo (and the Gd3+ ions were sufficiently well bound). At lower fields, the relaxivity of these small chelate complexes is dominated by τso, the relaxation time of the spin moments of the paramagnetic ions. We find this to be favorably long for complexes of Gd3+ with the macrocyclic phosphonate ligands, as was found earlier by us for Gd( DOTA)−. This situation, ostensibly related to the relatively high symmetry and rigidity of the macrocyclic complexes, can increase the low-field relaxivity of the phosphonates almost a factor of 2 beyond that of Gd(DTPA)2−. © 1989 Academic Press, Inc.