and Ca(II) are the main competitors and, thus, the candidate ligand
has to show a higher complexation selectivity for Gd(III) than for
the two cations.35 The most important toxicological feature of
the complex is the rate of decomplexation /transmetallation in
comparison with the rate of excretion of the complex from the
body. The requirements for in vivo stability suggest that kinetic
stability, also called kinetic inertness, of the complexes is much
more important than their thermodynamic stability.
From the structural point of view, two types of organic ligands
have been developed: twelve-membered tetraazamacrocyclic
cyclen derivatives (cyclen = 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane) and
acyclic triamines (diethylenetriamine derivatives) with several
chelating arms, affording an octadentate fashion of the ligands.1
The coordination number of the Gd(III) ion in these complexes is
nine with the last coordination site occupied by a water molecule,
which is crucial for the contrast enhancement mechanism (see
below).
The clinically used CAs based on Gd(III) complexes are shown
in Chart 1 and their relevant pharmacological characteristics
(stability constant, typical application dose, indication and pharmacokinetic
data) are summarised in Table 1.
The efficacy of the CA measured as the ability of its 1 mM
solution to increase the longitudinal relaxation rate R1 (=1/T1) of
water protons is called relaxivity and labelled r1. According to the
well established Solomon–Bloembergen–Morgan (SBM) theory
and its improvement called generalised SBM (GSBM),45 the relaxivity
is governed by a number of parameters.1 The overall relaxivity
can be correlated with a set of physico-chemical parameters, which
characterize the complex structure and dynamics in solution.
Those that can be chemically tuned, are of primary importance in
the ligand design (Fig. 1).1 They are (i) the number of inner-sphere
water molecules directly coordinated to the Gd(III) centre – q, (ii)
the residence time of the coordinated water molecule – sM, (iii) the
rotational correlation time representing the molecular tumbling
time of a complex – sR, (iv) interaction of the complex with water
molecules in the second and outer spheres (hydration number qss
and mean residence time sMss) and (v) electronic parameters.
As described elsewhere, the physico-chemical parameters are
accessible from NMR investigations (on the basis of the SBM
theory); this procedure is commonly used for characterization
of all compounds considered as CAs. Typical values for T1-CAs
currently used in clinics are: one coordinatedwater molecule, more