0000000000660747
AUTHOR
L. Völker
Intrinsic superoxide dismutase activity of MnO nanoparticles enhances the magnetic resonance imaging contrast
Superoxide radicals are associated with the development of many severe diseases, such as cancer. Under nonpathogenic conditions, the natural enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) regulates the intracellular superoxide concentrations, but nearly all tumor tissues show reduced SOD levels. Selective imaging in early progression stages remains a key requirement for efficient cancer diagnosis and treatment. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a noninvasive tool with high spatial resolution may offer advantages here, but MRI contrast agents exhibiting a redox-triggered change in the image contrast towards superoxide radicals have not been reported so far. Here we show that manganese oxide (MnO) nanop…
Solvent-induced high-spin transition in double-decker 3d–4f metallacrowns
Element-specific magnetic spin and orbital magnetic moments of $3d\text{\ensuremath{-}}4f$ double-decker metallacrown molecules have been investigated using x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. The double-decker metallacrowns comprise one rare-earth Gd(III) or Tb(III) ion embedded between two squared scaffolds of four Ni(II) ions. We observe a strong increase of the Ni(II) moments if the molecules are dissolved in methanol, indicating a spin crossover from a low-spin to a high-spin state. In contrast, dichloromethane does not change the spin state. This result is explained by a change of the coordination environment of nickel. The comparison of charge-transfer multiplet calculations with the …