Patent ID: 9642924
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: A61K,G01R

Claim:
1. A method of providing a contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the method comprising: providing a molecule comprising at least four non-zero-spin nuclei X, X′, Y, and Y′, wherein X and X′ are a first pair of chemically equivalent or effectively equivalent nuclei, and Y and Y′ are a second pair of chemically equivalent or effectively equivalent nuclei, wherein the molecule is selected from the group consisting of diphenylacetylene and diethyl oxalate; hyperpolarizing the molecule to provide a hyperpolarized molecule; and applying a first sequence of one or more radiofrequency pulses to the hyperpolarized molecule to transfer a spin state population between the first and the second pair of chemically equivalent or effectively equivalent nuclei; thereby providing a contrast agent having a non-equilibrium singlet state nuclear spin population, wherein the contrast agent molecule can be detected after the application of a second sequence of one or more radiofrequency pulses to transfer singlet order to polarization.