Multifunctional Amino Acid Derivative Coordination Compounds: Novel Contrast Agent and Luminescence Materials

Abstract

In this work a family of multidimensional (2‐(1H‐tetrazol‐5‐yl)ethyl) amino acid coordination compounds have been synthesized and thoroughly characterized. For this purpose, glycine, valine, phenylalanine and tyrosine have been selected as starting amino acids and Mn2+, Zn2+ and Cd2+ as metallic nodes. From one side, for Mn2+ based dimer magnetic resonance imaging studies have been conducted, prompted by the number and disposition of the coordinated water molecules and taking into consideration the promising future of manganese‐based coordination compounds as bio‐compatible substitutes to conventional Gd based contrast agents. From another side, d10 block metal‐based complexes allowed exploring photoluminescence properties derived by in situ synthesized ligands. Finally, amino acid preserved structural chirality allowed us to examine chiroptical properties, particularly focusing on circularly polarized luminescence.