Bhavna S. Paratala1, Lindsay K. Hill2,
Lilliane Mujica-Parodi1, Elisabeth de Castro Caparelli3,4,
Youssef Zaim Wadghiri2, Balaji Sitharaman1
1Biomedical Engineering,
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States; 2Department
of Radiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, United
States; 3Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory,
Upton, NY, United States; 4Social, Cognitive & Affective
Neuroscience Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
We report the synthesis, characterization (structure, magnetism and relaxometry) and in vitro MRI of graphene oxide nanoribbon (GONR)-based MRI contrast agents (CAs) for cellular and molecular MRI. GONRs were synthesized by chemical unzipping of multiwalled carbon nanotubes using the oxidizing agent potassium permanganate. HRTEM and Raman spectroscopy confirm the presence of GONRs. Magnetic (SQUID), and NMR relaxatometry studies reveal room temperature superparamagnetism, and relaxivities of r1 = 45mM-1s-1 and r2 = 234mM-1s-1, respectively. T1-, T2- weighted MRI phantom images show significant contrast enhancement compared to Manganese chloride, widely used preclinical CA .