Ratiometric quantitation of redox status with a molecular Fe2 magnetic resonance probe

We demonstrate the ability of a molecular Fe2 complex to enable magnetic resonance (MR)-based ratiometric quantitation of redox status, namely through redox-dependent paramagnetic chemical exchange saturation transfer (PARACEST). Metalation of a tetra(carboxamide) ligand with FeII and/or FeIII in the presence of etidronate ion affords analogous FeII2, FeIIFeIII, and FeIII2 complexes. Both FeII2 and FeIIFeIII complexes give highly-shifted, sharp, and non-overlapping NMR spectra, with multiple resonances for each complex corresponding to exchangeable carboxamide protons. These protons can be selectively irradiated to give CEST peaks at 74 and 83 ppm vs. H2O for the FeIIFeIII complex and at 29, 40 and 68 ppm for the FeII2 complex. The CEST spectra obtained from a series of samples containing mixtures of FeII2 and FeIIFeIII are correlated with independently-determined open-circuit potentials to construct a Nernstian calibration curve of potential vs. CEST peak intensity ratio. In addition, averaged intensities of phantom images collected on a 9.4 T MRI scanner show analogous Nernstian behavior. Finally, both the FeII2 and FeIIFeIII forms of the complex are stable to millimolar concentrations of H2PO4−/HPO42−, CO32−, SO42−, CH3COO−, and Ca2+ ions, and the FeIII2 form is air-stable in aqueous buffer and shows >80% viability in melanoma cells at millimolar concentration. The stability suggests the possible application of this or related complexes for in vivo studies. To our knowledge, this concentration-independent method based on a single Fe2 probe provides the first example of MR-based ratiometric quantitation of redox environment.