Encapsulation of xenon by bridged resorcinarene cages with high 129Xe NMR chemical shift and efficient exchange dynamics

Functionalized cages encapsulating xenon atoms enable highly sensitive, background-free molecular imaging through a technique known as HyperCEST 129Xe MRI. Here, we introduce a class of potential biosensor cage structures based on two resorcinarene macrocycles bridged either by aliphatic carbon chains or piperazines. First-principles-based modeling predicts a high chemical shift (about 345 ppm) outside the typical experimental observation window for 129Xe encapsulated by the aliphatically bridged cage and two 129Xe resonances for the piperazine-bridged cages corresponding to single and double loading. Based on the computational predictions as well as 129Xe chemical exchange saturation trans…