New amphiphilic molecules containing a bioactive peptide or a claw moiety have been prepared in order to obtain mixed micelles as target-specific contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging. The first molecule, C(18)H(37)CONH(AdOO)(2)-G-CCK8 (C18CCK8), contains a C18 hydrophobic moiety bound to the C-terminal cholecystokinin octapeptide amide (CCK 26-33 or CCK8). The second amphiphilic compound, C(18)H(37)CONHLys(DTPAGlu)CONH(2) (C18DTPAGlu) or its gadolinium complex, (C18DTPAGlu(Gd)), contains the same C18 hydrophobic moiety bound, through a lysine residue, to the DTPAGlu chelating agent. The mixed aggregates as well as the pure C18DTPAGlu aggregate, in the presence and absence of Gd, have been fully characterized by surface tension measurements, FT-PGSE-NMR, fluorescence quenching, and small-angle neutron scattering measurements. The structural characterization of the mixed aggregates C18DTPAGlu(Gd)-C18CCK8 indicates a spherical arrangement of the micelles with an external shell of approximately 21 A and an inner core of approximately 20 A. Both the DTPAGlu(Gd) complexes and the CCK8 peptides point toward the external surface. The measured values for relaxivity in saline medium at 20 MHz proton Larmor frequency and 25 degrees C are 18.7 mM(-)(1) s(-)(1). These values show a large enhancement in comparison with the isolated DTPAGlu(Gd) complex.

Recent experimental studies have shown a preferential interaction of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) toward the alkyl sulfate surfactants rather than toward those belonging to the alkyl sulfonate series. To gain information on the complex formation between PVP and the alkyl sulfate surfactants, we have performed 1 H and 13 C NMR and NOESY measurements on aqueous solutions of sodium decyl sulfate (C10OS) in the presence and absence of PVP at 1wt %. The results show that C10OS interacts with PVP, forming micellelike clusters bound onto the polymer, and furthermore suggest that the PVP-C10OS complex formation implies the synergic effects of the electrostatic attractions between the surfactant headgroup and the nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the pyrrolidone ring of PVP and of the hydrophobic interaction between the surfactant alkyl moiety and the ring carbons of PVP.