Major
Chemistry
Research Abstract
Numerous studies have shown correlations between various diseases, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, and a change in the concentration of metals in tissues. Current blood analysis-based methods of metal quantification do not always provide a sense of metal concentration in tissue samples. With this work, we aim to develop a non-surgical method to quantify metal concentrations in human tissue. Hexadentate ligands such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) tagged with a 13C label at the carbonyl position have shown specific shifting of the carbonyl peak upon complexation with various metals via magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Additionally, these compounds have shown increased signal intensity upon hyperpolarization. Employing 13C-tagging and hyperpolarization, we aim to develop macrocyclic ligands that could further improve the limit of metal detection in tissue due to their higher binding affinity. Preliminary work involved the replication of results observed with 13C-EDTA. To date, 13C-EDTA has been successfully synthesized, and titrations with CaCl2 have confirmed both the chemical shift associated with Ca2+ and the concentration of 13C-EDTA in our sample. Future work includes titrations of additional metals, followed by the synthesis and analysis of a series of 13C-tagged macrocyclic ligands.
Faculty Mentor/Advisor
Osasere Evbuomwan
Included in
Development of Hyperpolarizable Macrocyclic 13C-Probes for the Quantification of Metals In Vivo
Numerous studies have shown correlations between various diseases, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, and a change in the concentration of metals in tissues. Current blood analysis-based methods of metal quantification do not always provide a sense of metal concentration in tissue samples. With this work, we aim to develop a non-surgical method to quantify metal concentrations in human tissue. Hexadentate ligands such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) tagged with a 13C label at the carbonyl position have shown specific shifting of the carbonyl peak upon complexation with various metals via magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Additionally, these compounds have shown increased signal intensity upon hyperpolarization. Employing 13C-tagging and hyperpolarization, we aim to develop macrocyclic ligands that could further improve the limit of metal detection in tissue due to their higher binding affinity. Preliminary work involved the replication of results observed with 13C-EDTA. To date, 13C-EDTA has been successfully synthesized, and titrations with CaCl2 have confirmed both the chemical shift associated with Ca2+ and the concentration of 13C-EDTA in our sample. Future work includes titrations of additional metals, followed by the synthesis and analysis of a series of 13C-tagged macrocyclic ligands.
