Liver-specific contrast agents (CAs) can improve the Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) detection of focal and diffuse liver lesions by increasing the lesion-to-liver contrast. A novel Mn­(II) complex, Mn-BnO-TyrEDTA, with a lipophilic group-modified ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) structure as a ligand to regulate its behavior in vivo, is superior to Gd-EOB-DTPA in terms of a liver-specific MRI contrast agent. An MRI study on mice demonstrated that Mn-BnO-TyrEDTA can be rapidly taken up by hepatocytes with a combination of hepatobiliary and renal clearance pathways. Bromosulfophthalein (BSP) inhibition imaging, biodistribution, and cellular uptake studies confirmed that the mechanism of hepatic targeting of Mn-BnO-TyrEDTA is the hepatic uptake of the amphiphilic anion contrast agent mediated by organic anion transporting polypeptides (OATPs) expressed by functional hepatocytes.

By functionalizing triarylboron with cyclen, we developed a two-photon fluorescence probe, TAB-2, which can selectively bind RNA with a ratiometric readout. We tested TAB-2 in NIH/3T3 fibroblast cells, and demonstrated its capability in visualizing nucleoli and analyzing microenvironment polarity by two-photon and fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy.

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