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Gadolinium-based contrast agents are widely used to enhance image contrast in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures. Over recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the physicochemical properties of gadolinium chelates used as contrast agents for MRI procedures, as it has been suggested that dechelation of these molecules could be involved in the mechanism of a recently described disease, namely nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF). The aim of this paper is to discuss the structure-physicochemical properties relationships of marketed gadolinium chelates in regards to their biological consequences. Marketed gadolinium chelates can be classified according to key molecular design parameters: (a) nature of the chelating moiety: macrocyclic molecules in which Gd3+ is caged in the pre-organized cavity of the ligand, or linear open-chain molecules, (b) ionicity: the ionicity of the complex varies from neutral to tri-anionic agents, and (c) the presence or absence of an aromatic lipophilic residue responsible for protein binding. All these molecular characteristics have a profound impact on the physicochemical characteristics of the pharmaceutical solution such as osmolality, viscosity but also on their efficiency in relaxing water protons (relaxivity) and their biodistribution. These key molecular parameters can also explain why gadolinium chelates differ in terms of their thermodynamic stability constants and kinetic stability, as demonstrated by numerous in vitro and in vivo studies, resulting in various formulations of pharmaceutical solutions of marketed contrast agents. The concept of kinetic and thermodynamic stability is critically discussed as it remains a somewhat controversial topic, especially in predicting the amount of free gadolinium which may result from dechelation of chelates in physiological or pathological situations. A high kinetic stability provided by the macrocyclic structure combined with a high thermodynamic stability (reinforced by ionicity for macrocyclic chelates) will minimize the amount of free gadolinium released in tissue parenchymas.

The solution structure and dynamics of metal-bound water exchange have been studied in a series of diastereoisomeric gadolinium complexes of tetra(carboxyethyl) derivatives of 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclodecane. The structures of the (RRRS), (RSRS), and (RRSS) ligands and the Eu, Gd, and Tb complexes of the (RRRR) isomer have been determined by X-ray crystallography. Luminescence measurements on the Eu and Tb complexes revealed an integral hydration state (q ) 1) in each case for the Eu isomers, whereas nonintegral values were measured for the (RRRR) and (RRRS) Tb isomers (e.g., [(RRRR)-Tb‚1] -, q ) 0.60). The ratio of the twisted and regular monocapped square antiprismatic isomers has been measured in solution by 1 H NMR for the Eu and Tb complexes and followed the order, (RRRR) > (RRRS) > (RSRS) > (RRSS). Water exchange rates in the gadolinium complexe have been determined by 17 O NMR and were fastest for the (RRRR) isomer [τ m ) 68 ns (298 K)] and correlated very well with the proportion of the twisted square anti-prismatic isomer. The rate of water exchange in the (RRRR) Gd complexes is likely to be sufficiently fast so as not to limit the overall relaxivity in higher MW conjugates.