Chelation of gadolinium with carbonized citric and folic acids

Most radiological methods for examining the body, such as magnetic resonance therapy, radiography, ultrasound diagnostics, and many others demand the use of contrast agents. The existing contrast agents are imperfect and require further improvement. A special place among contrast agents is occupied by specific contrast agents, which allow targeted contrasting through the use of special ligands (for example, folic acid). In this work, we describe the preparation of stable gadolinium chelates with carbon nanostructures, which exhibit bright fluorescence and contain folic acid in their structure, available for binding to receptors. This opens up the possibility of using such structures for targeted contrast enhancement, as well as for local visualization of cancer cells and tissues.