There is increasing attraction of measuring pH in biological studies using nitroxides having pHdependent electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra. Aiming to improve the spectral sensitivity, a X , of these probes (i.e. the difference between limiting EPR hyperfine splittings (hfs) in their protonated and unprotonated forms), we present here a series of novel linear -carboxy, '-diethoxyphosphoryl nitroxides constructed on an amino acid core and featuring a ( or ')-C−H bond.In buffers the three main hfs (a N , a H and a P ) of their X-band EPR spectra vary reversibly with pH and, when it is inferred from a P or a H titration curves, a 2−4-fold increase in sensitivity is achieved vs reference imidazoline or imidazolidine nitroxides. Lead crystallized carboxylate 10b (pK a ≈ 3.6), which demonstrated low cytotoxicity and good resistance to bioreduction, was applied to probe the stomach acidity in rats. The results pave the way to a novel generation of highly sensitive EPR pH markers.