The preparation of a paramagnetic chelator that serves as a platform for multicontrast MRI, and can be utilized either as a T1-weighted, paraCEST or (19)F MRI contrast agent is reported. Its europium(iii) complex exhibits an extremely slow water exchange rate which is optimal for the use in CEST MRI. The potential of this platform was demonstrated through a series of MRI studies on tube phantoms and animals.

Advances in sampling tools, analytical methods, and data handling capabilities have been fundamental to the growth of marine organic biogeochemistry over the past four decades. There has always been a strong feedback between analytical advances and scientific advances. However, whereas advances in analytical technology were often the driving force that made possible progress in elucidating the sources and fate of organic matter in the ocean in the first decades of marine organic biogeochemistry, today process-based scientific questions should drive analytical developments. Several paradigm shifts and challenges for the future are related to the intersection between analytical progress and scientific evolution. Untargeted "molecular headhunting" for its own sake is now being subsumed into process-driven targeted investigations that ask new questions and thus require new analytical capabilities. However, there are still major gaps in characterizing the chemical composition and biochemical behavior of macromolecules, as well as in generating reference standards for relevant types of organic matter. Field-based measurements are now routinely complemented by controlled laboratory experiments and in situ rate measurements of key biogeochemical processes. And finally, the multidisciplinary investigations that are becoming more common generate large and diverse datasets, requiring innovative computational tools

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Cyclen-based macrocyclic ligands have an essential role in the development of contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A prevailing need for preparation of multifunctional probes triggered a number of attempts to synthesize and derivatise ligands which efficiently chelate lanthanide ions and have advantageous MRI properties. This digest article summarizes the most common synthetic approaches for the preparation of macrocyclic ligands based on cyclen depending on the desired application