Partially fluorinated nanoemulsions for F-19 MRI-fluorescence dual imaging cell tracking

Fluorine-19 magnetic resonance imaging (F-19 MRI) has been a technology of choice for in vivo cell tracking, in which perfluorocarbons (PFCs) nanoemulsions are the most used 19F MRI agents. However, the peculiar physicochemical properties of PFCs may lead to poor cell uptake and misleading cell tracking results. Herein, we employed partially fluorinated aromatic agents to formulate paramagnetic nanoemulsions as novel 19F MRIfluorescence (FL) dual imaging agents for cell tracking. With the intramolecular 7C-7C interaction, low density and fluorine content, the partially fluorinated agents enable considerable solubilities of functional agents and short relaxation times, which facilitates convenient preparation of stable, biocompatible, and multifunctional nanoemulsions with high 19F MRI sensitivity. Replacing PFCs in F-19 MRI nanoemulsions with readily available partially fluorinated aromatic agents may address many issues associated with PFCs and provide a novel strategy for high-performance 19F MRI agents of broad biomedical applications.