ABSTRACT
In this communication, we demonstrate that there is an optimum gadolinium oxide (Gd(2)O(3)) nanoparticle size of 2.3 nm; in the presence of Gd(2)O(3) particles smaller and larger than this critical size, the spin-lattice relaxation rate (T(1) = 1/r(1)) of water protons at 7.0 T drastically decreases. Since r(1) is directly related to the quality of magnetic resonance imaging, the results presented here have significant implications for clinical diagnostics.
Subject(s)
Gadolinium/chemistry , Nanoparticles/chemistry , Positron-Emission Tomography/methods , Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy/methodsABSTRACT
In this paper, we report a facile method for synthesis of ultra small (1-3nm) gadolinium oxide (Gd(2)O(3)) nanoparticles using citric acid (CA) as a capping agent. The dependence of nanoparticle (NP) size on the ratio between CA and gadolinium (Gd) is investigated. Absorption properties of the ultra small Gd(2)O(3) NPs in UV region have four characteristic peaks at 312nm, 274nm, 253nm and 228nm. Finally, we show that the Gd(2)O(3) nanoparticles synthesized by this method induce triplet emission (phosphorescence) from CA and EG in the NIR region.